A LETTER FROM ABOARD THE ABUJA-KADUNA TRAIN

The other day, my 13-year old daughter Fatima and I had the privilege of travelling Abuja to Kaduna by the new train service. We took the train from Kubwa, Abuja, and alighted at Rigasa, in Kaduna. While aboard, we happened upon my good brother, friend and senior journalism colleague as well as my Student Union […]

The other day, my 13-year old daughter Fatima and I had the privilege of travelling Abuja to Kaduna by the new train service. We took the train from Kubwa, Abuja, and alighted at Rigasa, in Kaduna. While aboard, we happened upon my good brother, friend and senior journalism colleague as well as my Student Union President at Bayero University Kano almost three decades ago, Muhammad Hassan-Tom – prolific writer and owner of Kaduna-based Zakara Publications. After exchanging pleasantries, I challenged him to submit 1,000 words of his experience of this train service for use on this column, as one of us MUST write something. He agreed and did, and here is his piece titled: “When A Writer Is Wordless.”
If you are not yet excited by news of the new train service between Abuja and Kaduna, you should experience it. As a frequent road traveller on the route, I can affirm that the new Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Service commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on 26th July 2016 is a fast, safe and reliable alternative transport link for this important corridor. What I cannot do is enumerate the beauty and all the benefits of the project.
According to the President, the scheme which was conceived in 2009 by a previous administration, started by the last government and completed and commissioned by the current government is the beginning of rail transport revolution in Nigeria. Between 1963 and the early 1980s, he said, Nigeria had a vibrant rail transport system that conveyed agricultural products, livestock and solid mineral resources to the Lagos and Port Harcourt seaports. “It is our vision and hope that those good old days will soon be back with us and, indeed, in a more prosperous way with the restoration of rail transport system which today’s occasion symbolises.”
Driving to Idu, the Abuja suburb housing the main train station was a bit tedious since the road network is poorly developed but, once inside the passenger is transported into a setting not previously seen in Nigeria. The terminus is no concrete monster but a functional and well-ventilated building composed mainly of transparent glass partitions. Polite and pleasant-looking personnel welcome you with a genuine desire to be of service. From security screening to ticketing and check-in, the customer is treated like a king. The fully air-conditioned pre-boarding lounge even compares favourably with similar VIP facilities in the country’s best airports.
The air-conditioned coaches – first class and economy – are common fare around the developed world but certainly a new standard in Nigeria. Seats are comfortable and well-spaced with much more leg room than our so-called ‘luxurious’ buses or even most of the aircrafts plying our skies. There are no seat-belts of any kind or any need for them. Yes, you may leave your seat at any time and walk up and down across compartments. Coaches are pulled soundlessly along the rails as if rolling on egg-shells. Relieved of the stress of jolts from potholes, noise pollution from horns and roaring engines and other common traffic hazards, a passenger becomes calm enough to simply relax, meditate or get down to do some work – after the first few trips.
For the first few trips, you may not have interest for anything but gazing at the fantastic scenery along the almost 200km rail-track. Rivers and majestic rocks in the dozens share the deep green undulating landscape with carefully cultivated farms and gardens. You could almost smell the aromas of bananas, rice and corn as the train breezes past plantations and sleepy settlements. The greenery is not just soothing to the eyes but reassuring to the heart: a vivid reminder of how much the Almighty Allah loves Nigerians.
Between the Idu, Abuja and Rigasa, Kaduna Terminals, there are five sub-stations at Kubwa, Jere, Rijana, Dutse and Kakau. These towns are set to see some socio-economic growth very soon. Property values are already reportedly up and the attachment of cargo coaches planned before year-end would see thousands of farmers along the route reaping greater profit from their toil and minimizing waste of perishable produce such as valuable fruits, vegetables and tubers. All puns intended, this project is one of the major means by which the Federal Government can accelerate both its Green Alternative Revolution and the Economic Diversification Programme. It should quickly replicate the project across the federation.
The shortcomings of the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Service to this writer include poor road network in and out of all the stations including Abuja and Kaduna and the absence of shuttle buses since the terminals are located in the suburbs. This raises the otherwise cheap cost when compared with motor-parks normally located in city centres. Security is also an issue in view of the susceptibility of the tracks to sabotage. Finally, the management and maintenance of the facility should be quickly transferred from the Chinese to Nigerians, if only to prove that we can do it by ourselves.
Impassioned as this enthusiasm for the service might appear, it might not have been written down in these words were it not spurred by my meeting with the most passionate enthusiast you could meet: the super-sized and super-tenured anchor of the Daily Trust Saturday Column! I was humbled on meeting him on the train on my first trip on 18th August. He was breathlessly conducting his beautiful daughter Fatima on an excursion of the train. Afterwards, she exuded so much infectious excitement but her father was almost speechless. He may have been wordless as well because he now literally begged me to write on the experience as I attempted above. Then I recalled his recent piece on this page passionately pleading with President Buhari to accelerate the proposed standardisation of the rail gauge between Lagos-Calabar and between Kano-Lagos.
From his statements at the launching of the service, President Buhari seems in tune with this sentiment. He said, “I wish to assure Nigerians that due attention will be placed on pursuing the 25-year Strategic Railway Masterplan which is aimed at rehabilitating the existing 3,505 km narrow gauge rail line and constructing new standard gauge rail lines across the country.”
My wish is that the President should place people with passion for the project to execute the master-plan.
So well said by Muhammad Hassan-Tom!
And from the Columnist: Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has given an assurance that the Calabar-Uyo and the Lagos-Ibadan rail modernisation projects would be completed before the end of 2018. Amaechi said this on Wednesday in Abuja while signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project with a Chinese company, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd. (CCECC)….He added: “I am told that before November, we can commence the Lagos-Ibadan and the Calabar-Uyo constructions, to be completed by November 2018…”
Please, someone, help me ask the Honourable Minister: “Mr. Minister, what of the other end, the Kaduna to Kano phase?”  Help!