The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced that electronic ticketing (e-ticketing) for the standard gauge network will officially launch next week.
The eagerly awaited e-ticketing system is expected to bring increased convenience and efficiency to rail travel in Nigeria.
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The announcement was made by Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director of NRC, during an interview on Tuesday, October 25.
Okhiria explained that the final testing phase of the e-ticketing platform will be completed on Wednesday, enabling it to go live for a restricted audience before becoming available to the general public.
He emphasised that the e-ticketing system will direct ticket sales revenue directly to the government’s coffers, significantly reducing the potential for corruption and revenue leakage.
According to him, the e-ticketing rollout will initially cover the Abuja-Kaduna route and will subsequently extend to other key routes, including Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri.
In addition to the e-ticketing initiative, Okhiria announced that the train speed on the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge line would be increased from 40 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour.
His words:
“The e-ticketing is the way to go, it is the way to secure our money and our investments, because as you buy your tickets it goes to the government coffers directly. We have it in Abuja-Kaduna, and we are also going to have it in Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri. By the end of the month, our passengers should start using it.”
“Right now, we are putting to test the e-ticketing on Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge and, thereafter, Itakpe-Warri, so that people can buy the tickets from the comfort of their homes and offices from their phones or other devices simply by downloading the applicable app.
“This will help reduce human interference and ensure that all revenues of the corporation go straight into its account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“We will be going live by Wednesday, but that does not mean it will be released to members of the public yet. But it would be open to some people for final testing before finally releasing it to the public.
“This is for us to ensure that the money goes straight to our CBN account. We have been on this for the last two weeks, and we are on the final lap of introducing it to members of the public.”