Train passengers rise by over 400% in one year, says NBS report

Nigeria has recorded an increase of over 400 per cent in train passengers within a space of one year, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.

It also indicated that the Nigerian Railway Corporation generated N2.1 billion as revenue from passengers and cargo traffic in the first half of this year.

Apart from the biting economic lockdown imposed last year to curtail the spread of COVID-19, which adversely affected train service, the commencement of the new Lagos-Ibadan train service apart its inauguration in June this year and the reinvigorated Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line must are seen to have contributed to the NRC’s performance.

The report, titled, ‘Rail Transportation Data Q2’ stated that 565,385 passengers travelled by the rail system in the second quarter of 2021 against 108,238 passengers recorded in the second quarter of 2020 and 424,460 in Q1 2021.

This represents a 422.35 per cent growth year-on-year and 33.20 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

The report also specifically stated that the NRC generated N1.08 billion from passengers in the second quarter of 2021 against N892.47 million in Q1 2021.

Goods or cargo traffic in Q2 2021 fetched N71.56 million against N26.19 million in Q1 2021, while income from other receipts stood at N41 million in the last six months.

A further analysis of the report shows that the corporation recorded its highest revenue from passengers in Q2 2021 with N1.08 billion, while the lowest revenue generation from passengers was recorded in the second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020), with N320.34 million.

The report showed from all categories that the year 2020 (particularly Q2 2020) suffered the most losses and turnout of passengers due to the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of the virus across Nigeria.

In June, the NBS had said the NRC generated N5.79 billion as revenue from passengers and cargo between 2019 and the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021).