It was one of those things that
started out as a casual conversation between a group of friends. I had just
read a documented account of someone else’s train ride experience from Lagos to
Ibadan which my friend Reginald Bassey had shared on his profile on Facebook
and to be honest, it felt surreal. I live around the Ifako – Ijaiye local
government area of Lagos and on some occasion during my drive back home I have
had to wait for the local trains to make its cross through the railway before
re-joining the express on the Agege Motor road. The sight of these local trains
has been nothing but frightening. If you had assumed that the sardines in Titus
(packaged tuna) had it bad been stacked together in a tin, then you my friend
would be joking! These trains as I sometimes see them come fully packed to the
teeth. People stacked together in close proximity in and on any part of the
train possible. On top of the train, inside the train, hanging off handles on
both sides of the train and more people stacked on the table tops and windows
of each cabin… I have on many occasions thought to myself how one could get off
this train once getting to your destination. That sight has been nothing but
discouraging…
As surreal as the documented account of the
inter-state train ride I read felt, there was this part of me that was curious
enough to want to try out the experience. On the one hand I was curious enough
to want to go on the trip just so that I have a broader perspective and story
to tell as against the “single story” I had formed from seeing the old rickety over
stacked trains occasionally. That to me became the only picture of what was
left of the Nigerian railway system…
We set out to plan a group trip, to
each motivate ourselves to follow through on our plan to take the train from
Lagos to Ibadan, a plan some of our observers termed as a “suicide mission”.
There were so many fears to contend with… security of lives and property on the
train, functionality of the trains itself, fear of a breakdown in a remote
village while enroute Ibadan, and the state of hygiene and ventilation on the
train. Well, it was a risk and one we were all willing to take!
Our plans started encountering
some glitches when we realized we could not get a train on a weekend to Ibadan
reducing the initial number in our group from about 20 interested participants
to only 7. The team was made up of Reginald Bassey who spearheaded the
information gathering and planning of the trip, Nkechi Enechukwu who
coordinated the #TakeTheTrainChallenge initiative, Ayo Naledi, Brume Olori, Ezechukwu
Assuzu, Peter Bahago and Omolara Kotun our enthusiastic team members who made
the trip an experience.
We were only able to get the
train travel schedule first-hand from visiting the train terminal in Iddo. One
would have assumed that with the advent of the internet age where information
is readily available and accessible, we could have found a train schedule online
to make for better planning… We re-scheduled for a weekday trip as was
available to us and this is how out train challenge started…
The journey to Ibadan could be
achieved through two options on the selected day we planned to embark on our
“#TakeTheTrainChallenge”. One option was to take the 9:00am train from Lagos which
transports passengers heading to both Ibadan and Ilorin. This trip would last
us about 3 hours barring all local inter-state stops within Ogun state before
approaching Ibadan. Our option two on the other hand would be to take the
“Express train” heading to Kano by 12:00 noon which would also make stops at
Ibadan and Ilorin before proceeding up north. The trip would also last 3 hours,
however, we would have access to a “First Class” cabin which offered more
comfort for a longer trip…
The thought of a “First Class”
cabin at the rate of Eight Hundred Naira (N800.00) the USD equivalent of $4.4 was
albeit unimaginable. I was curious to see what the state of the first class
cabin would look and feel like considering how discounted the rates felt…
We had planned to take the 9:00am
train to Ibadan so we could make the trip back to Lagos by road on the same day, considering that there were no return trip options available. We had been informed by the
Station Manager who was really helpful with providing information that return
trips were not possible at the moment as only single rail tracks existed at the time. A
future plan would incorporate a dual track to make return trips possible. It
was motivating to hear that a plan was in place sometime in the future to provide full service options to travellers.
Arriving at the Iddo terminal by
7:00 am, I was surprised to find quite a number of passengers waiting with their luggages and some with family members.
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| Waiting area |
The building looked relatively
old like something out of an ancient Nollywood flick of the 70’s. A quick
scan through of the terminal, I noticed a plaque showing the commissioning of
the Lagos terminus, by Sir Hugo Marshall, Acting
Governor General of the Federation of Nigeria and Honorable Mallam Tafawa
Balewa, Minister of Transport (at the time) on the 25th of May 1955. From my observation, it
looked like nothing had changed since the commissioning of the building in 1955,
save for the new chairs in the waiting area.
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| Official commissioning of the Lagos Terminus in 1955 |
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| Ticketing office (notice the 1956 sign just by the office) |
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| Ticketing area |
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| Waiting area |
Since we had planned to board the
9:00am train to Ibadan the team arrived between 7:00am to 8:00am on time for purchase of tickets and departure.
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| L-R: Brume, Omolara, Peter, Reginald & Ezechukwu (Ayo & i where behind the camera! lol) |
At exactly 8:30am we still
weren't sure when tickets for our 9:00am trip to Ibadan will be sold as no form of
announcement or notice was anywhere handy. After several minutes of interrogating the Stations Manager we were informed that we would not be getting on the 9:00am train
as it had developed some engine faults which could not be fixed before the scheduled departure
time (hmmn, first “red flag” of the day). The Station Manager had informed us
that the Ibadan & Ilorin trip would now be compressed into the Kano trip
scheduled for 12:00noon. The good news about this was that we would be able to
ride in the “First Class” Cabin which our 9:00am train would not have provided. The down side to it was that we had 3 more hours to wait before embarking on
our trip.
At 11:45am there was still no
word or public announcement made for the sale of tickets or on the arrival of
the train. After further questioning we were informed that tickets would only
be sold when the train is cleared for take-off. And then out of the blues at 12:25pm a bell chimed (similar to those used in high schools to indicate the time for the
general assembly or the start or end of a class) apparently indicating the start of the
sale of tickets for the trip. Within seconds there was a mad rush to the
ticketing area. Thanks to the “Lagos hustle” still burning in our veins
Reginald & Peter were able to get in line to purchase our tickets! Lol!
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| Reginald & Peter on the hustle for tickets! lol |
After minutes of pushing and
shoving, our tickets to Ibadan on the “First Class” coach emerged.
The tickets were sold for Eight
Hundred Naira (N800.00) however, we were issued old tickets that had been used for
centuries and were still carrying the old rates of Five Hundred and Ten Naira
(N510.00). Even if these were mass produced in gazillions,
they should have been immediately replaced once the rates changed.
We made the walk down for boarding and a sudden kind of nostalgia hit me... I remembered my first train ride experience in the UK and remembered feeling awed by the structure, detail and precision in place. A stranger could easily find his or her way around the train station and platforms without needing to ask as much questions... I returned to my present scenery though not perfect but showing some sign of work in progress. A little more attention and proper management could go a long way... I was hopeful! I still am hopeful! Too many passengers rely on this means of transportation for reasons best favourable to them. A lot more still needs to be done...
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| Train platforms |
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| The only Platform sign I saw... |
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| Lagos Terminus |
The first class cabins were
relatively new, painted in white & blue different from the
standard cabins which come painted in yellow and green.
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| First class coach |
Getting on the train was a hassle! One would
literary have to jump or climb on in “Jackkie Chan” “Kong fu ninja" style as no functional elevated platforms exists to aid passengers boarding the trains.
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| Glorified platforms |
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| Getting on the train the "Kong fu ninja" style! lol |
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| Brume attempting the "Jackie Chan" style! lol |
We eventually got on the train
without falling off or breaking our teeth and were totally impressed by the interior of the
first class cabin to say the least!
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| Air-conditioned first class coach! |
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| We even took Selfies! lol (L-R Ayo, Brume, Kechy & Peter) |
.jpg) |
| We could even charge our devices! Yeepee! (Photo credit: pretty Ayo!) |
It was about 1:30pm by the time
we had all settled in still expecting that take-off would commence in a few
more minutes before we found out that there were some technical problems with
the engine that was supposed to power the train. After chatting with some of
the train technicians we discovered that we would have to wait a while longer
than scheduled for another engine to arrive that would power the train. By this
time diminishing returns had begun to set in…
Our journey time had been drastically
extended at this point. We had anticipated that we would arrive at Ibadan by 3:00pm to make a road trip back to Lagos on the same day. By 3:20pm we were
still on the same stop we were at the Iddo terminal in Lagos. Speaking
with some of the regular travelers, especially those going the long distance to the North, some mentioned that they have had days of smooth departures and some days such as these were engine malfunctions or breakdowns prevented an on-schedule departure. They however mentioned that travelling by train was more cost effective for them compared to going by air or road and they also had the opportunity of carrying more luggages. I had asked myself if
there was anyway the delay could have been better managed and my answer was a
huge Yes! Informing the passengers of the engine trouble could have better
relaxed them a bit more.
By 3:37pm we felt the engine rev signaling
that take-off was imminent. From our new estimation, the train would arrive
Ibadan in about 4 hours 30 minutes (approximately 8:00pm) because it now had to make local stops due
to the cancelled 9:00am train. We had planned to return to Lagos same day and
there was no way we would make a return trip by night considering the
state of the roads. We asked where the first local stop would be and we
rescheduled our stop for Agege! As disappointing as this was, it was a pointer to
show loop holes within the system. Given proper management and ownership of the
system, such errors can be greatly reduced or managed.
A coverage of the local stops within Lagos showed that a lot of work still needs to
be done to improve the state of the service delivered to
customers. None of the local stops had proper stations were passengers
could get off or on. On-boarding and disembarking happens directly on the rail tracks...
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| Local stop at Ebute-Metta |
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| Local stop at Mushin |
We got off the train right on the
train tracks at the Agege terminal. Road users were seen causually walking
along the tracks with indifference… Healthier safety measures need to be
adapted for the safety of both passengers and road users.
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| Our stop at Agege |
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| People strutting along right on the rails in Agege. No Health & Safety measures in place... |
A lot of work still needs to be
done if we intend to provide Nigerians credible alternative means of
transportation. Change is possible with the right mentality, goals, objectives
and adequate resources. “Yes we Can” if we only tried a bit more and managed
the process with due diligence. We intend to experience the Kano trip sometime
in the coming year. Hopefully under better circumstances! We believe in a
transformed Nigeria and we will continue to play our part to draw attention to
sectors that need more input and overhaul!
Huge thanks goes out to my wonderful team who made this trip as bearable as possible! lol! Thanks guys! Looking forward to the Kano trip!
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| L-R: Omolara, Kechy, Reginald, Mr. Abdulazeez (Our very helpful Station Manager), Brume, Peter, Ayo & Ezechukwu |
Till next time, get motivated and
join the #TakeTheTrainChallenge. Be sure to document and share your experiences using the hash-tag!
Toodles!
Kechy!
