The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has placed orders for procurement of spare parts for repair of locomotive engines in its fleet.
The Lagos District Manager of the Corporation, Engr Jerry Oche, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said this was coming on the heel of complaints by passengers on the Lagos Mass Transit Train service over frequent breakdowns and unscheduled movement of the few functioning locomotive engine, making the service unreliable.
According to him, “We have awarded contract for supply of spare parts. As you know spare parts are not what you can buy off the shelf; you place order and wait for it to arrive.
“Once the spare parts arrive, I can assure you that most of the engines awaiting repairs will be fixed and our service will be better.”
Meanwhile the Corporation in the second quarter of this year, made 584 trips with its Mass Transit Train service from Ijoko/Kajola to Iddo/Apapa and vice-versa.
Oche stated further that 457,000 passengers and 43 tons of luggage/passage were respectively carried during the period under review.
Statistics made available also showed that the Lagos to Kano passenger and goods train service, recorded the least traffic as only seven passenger trains worked in six months while 3,092 passengers and 276 tons of goods were conveyed between January and June this year.