Pressing Need To Revitalise The Moribund State Of Eastern District Railway System

Editor’s note: Can Nigeria boast an advanced railway system, modern trains, efficient online services? Writing from Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Naij.com contributor Paul John says the eastern district railway system desperately needs revival.

The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.

Developed climes have well-maintained and efficient railway systems. There are 10,072 miles (16,209 km) of railways in Great Britain and 189 miles (304 km) in Northern Ireland. In England, somebody from Plymouth will be commuting to faraway Middlesbrough via train, decongesting major cities. In Nigeria, the England experience is akin to a Lagosian commuting to Anambra state – which is not feasible.

In Nigeria, the railway system is divided into eastern, north-eastern, north-western districts, etc. However, even in the south-west, we have about two districts, hence, the eastern district remains the only one where two geopolitical regions (south-east and south-south) are combined together.

The development is yet to reach the eastern district. Other districts have engine cabins, different passenger coaches and baggage vans. Even the so-called first-class coach in the eastern district is a glorified second-class coach. The only difference between the first and the second class coaches here is the air conditioning system in the former. In the southwestern part of the country, we have public first-class, sleeping first-class among other first-class coaches; hence, if a family wanted to embark on an excursion, they could pay for the sleeping first-class coach that resembles an “apartment” with a sitting room, a toilet and a bedroom. In the eastern district, the only first-class coach available is the one where everybody in a particular coach, no matter the status, uses the same toilet. What an injustice!

In order to have first-hand experience, just a few days before the end of the last administration in May, I decided to travel by train from the Port Harcourt end of the eastern railway district. Ahead of my journey, I enquired about the travel schedules (because I am used to online flight booking). I got a phone number (08038907639) linked to the Nigerian Railway Corporation. The person I spoke with could not give me all the information I needed because he was in the Enugu office. I was directed to the Port Harcourt office. Unfortunately, there was no phone contact available through which I could have contacted them, nor any website I could have visited to obtain the information. The person in the Enugu office advised me to be in the Port Harcourt office before 0700 hours on Tuesday if I intended to travel by the train.

So, I embarked on a journey of about 30 minutes in order to catch up with the train in the Port Harcourt railway office. Few minutes into our journey, the train stopped at the back of my house (I later learnt it was one of the railway substations) to pick some passengers. I was filled with indignation for having wasted time and fuel to drive down to the Port Harcourt office, when I could catch up with the train with ease at the back of my house. This is how much inconvenience lack of information from the appropriate authorities caused me. Passengers need a website where the train schedule and advantages of travelling by trains would be named.

The location of the Port Harcourt office of the railway corporation is near Lagos bus stop which is too for many residents living in Port Harcourt suburbs, and I believe that was why our forefathers built the substations in different locations.

I learnt there is only one engine cabin in use in the eastern district, hence, it will soon break down. Let’s say the train leaves Port Harcourt at 0700 hours  on Tuesdays and is to arrive Enugu at about 1430 hours  same day. It leaves Enugu for Makurdi  immediately after picking and disembarking some passengers, arriving Makurdi between 2200 and 2300 hours. The journey continues to Lafia, where the train is meant to arrive between 0300 and 0400 hours the next day (Wednesday), and from there, the train reaches Kafanchan between 1000 and 1100 hours on Wednesday. Within three to four hours of arriving Kafanchan, the train returns to Port Harcourt, as it must leave Kafachan at latest 1400 hours the same Wednesday in order to arrive Enugu on or before 0700 hours on Thursday. It is expected to reach Port Harcourt between 1400 and 1500 hours on Thursday, and on Friday morning, the same train will leave Port Harcourt to Enugu. However, the final destination of the train on Fridays from Port Harcourt is at Enugu regional office, hence, it travels beyond Enugu on Fridays. As the train arrives Enugu on Fridays, it passes maintenance and by Monday at 0700 hours is meant to proceed to Port Harcourt. The ‘vicious cycle’ continues.

Also, I observed that the railway tracks in the eastern region are not as smooth as in other regions. The friction of movement can be felt while on the eastern end of the railway tracks, but from Makurdi to Kafanchan, there is little or no friction because the tracks there are fixed and well-maintained. Who bears the blame in this case? At times, when it rains in some parts of the eastern district, some sections of the railway line are over-flooded and train movements are delayed.

These anomalies should be corrected immediately and more engine cabins, passenger coaches and baggage vans be bought and sent down to the eastern district so that passengers here couldbe equal to those in in other parts of the country. Different first-class coaches should be sent down to the eastern district as it is currently being utilised in other districts. Just one engine cabin from Monday through Friday is not enough to cater for the large district where two geopolitical zones are combined, as it will definitely break down one day. The salaries and the working conditions of other railway workers should be improved if we truly  desire any improvement in the labour efficiency.

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