Lagos-Ibadan, Warri–Itakpe Rail Lines To Begin e-Ticketing Wednesday

The federal government has launched the e-ticket platform for Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe rail lines. The e-ticketing platform takes effect from Wednesday, November 1st, 2023. Speaking at the launch Monday in Abuja, Minister of Transportation, Saidu Akali said the initiative will ease access to tickets and end ticket racketeering. “The essence of E-ticketing is to make it easy for our passengers to buy tickets, for security purposes and to stop ticket racketeering.” On his part, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okharia said the initiative will increase revenue generation for the country. “I am so happy about this project, apart from the fact that e-ticketing will end issues of ticket racketeering, it will also increase the revenue from the routes. “Already for the last one week, revenue on Warri-Itakpe has increased from N3 million to N4 million and will even further increase,” he stated. Fare Solution Ltd is handling the contract on the Warri-Itakpe rail line while Global Software and Digital Solutions are handling the contract for the Lagos-Ibadan rail line. The contract for the e-ticketing of the rail routes was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) early in 2023 at the cost of N1.96 billion for both companies.

NRC records drop as 441,725 Nigerians travel by rail

A total of 441,725 passengers travelled via the rail system in Q1 2023, lower than the 953,099 reported in the corresponding quarter of 2022. This represented a growth rate of -53.65 per cent. The rail transportation data for Q1 2023 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that 59,966 tons of goods were transported in Q1 2023, compared to 39,379 tons reported in Q1 2022. “In terms of revenue generation, N768.44 million was received from passengers over the period, lower by 63.02% relative to N2.08 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. “Similarly, N181.27 million was collected in Q1 2023 as revenue from goods/cargos, up by 99.28% from N90.96 million received in Q1 2022. “In addition, other receipts amounted to N34.17 million, indicating a decline of 41.02% in Q1 2023, from the N57.92 million collected in Q1 2022,” the NBS said.