The fascinating infrastructure of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has been a huge source of relief for most Nigerians who have longed for safe alternative transportation in the country. With the new comfy trains shuttling Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna, Warri-Itakpe and the Iddo-Ijoko, most passengers no longer need to undergo strenuous road travels.
Catching a train to any of these destinations from the Babatunde Fashola train station in Agege, Lagos state, may not be as easy as it should be for a first-timer.At exactly 7:00 a.m., I headed to the Agege train station with the hope of boarding a train to Ibadan by 8:20 a.m.
However, I observed that not many passengers headed straight to the ticket session to get their tickets to Abeokuta or Ibadan. From my observation, the ticket room is most times less busy during the weekdays (between Tuesdays and Thursdays).the crowded activity at the My findings weren’t far-fetched. It has been noticed by some passengers. At 8:18 a.m. headtopics.com
Meanwhile, on the trip to Ibadan. I observed how a senior official, together with ticket checkers through the 9 coaches, confirmed payment/tickets. “Yes, mostly passengers going to Abeokuta. The passengers are now transferring 2k to their dedicated account.”.
On my journey back to Lagos, while waiting for the next boarding time, I was stopped on my way to the ticket booth by one of the security officials who was on duty to safeguard the train service to Lagos.
Surprisingly, when we arrived at Kojola, a train stop before arriving at Agege, the female official approached me and whispered into my ears. She asked that I bring out money to pay her as I was close to my destination. I reached out to my purse and was about to hand over N3,000 cash to her, but she declined, saying it wasn’t acceptable to collect less than N3,600 for a standard ticket. headtopics.com