NRC says Lagos mass transit trains won’t resume Monday for fear of COVID-19
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said the Mass Transit Train Services (MTTS) in Lagos will not resume on Monday in spite of the gradual easing of COVID-19 lockdown.
The Lagos District Manager of Railway, Mr Jerry Oche, said the corporation would concentrate on Apapa freight shuttles alone.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it would be difficult to ensure social distancing at the railway stations and on board trains.
The NRC boss said: “As directed by the Federal Government, we will resume on May 4 like every other agency but our emphasis for now is going to be on Apapa freight shuttle.
“Don’t forget that if we have to do the MTT, there are a lot of measures to be put in place. The social distancing is there, the enforcement is there and we know how porous our stations are.
“It is going to be very difficult and we don’t want to go in that line now. “So, what we intend to do is to deploy our manpower, allowed by the government to resume work, for the freight shuttle services,” he said.
According to him, the corporation will not also want to endanger the lives of its staff, especially checkers on the train.
“It is not everybody that is resuming; it is just for those on level 14 and above.
“For freight shuttle, we don’t need checkers, we just need drivers. We can manage that one.
“The freight shuttle is a shorter distance; it is just Apapa to EBJ and Iddo as the case may be. All our emphasis is going to be on freight shuttles,” he said.
Oche added that the port had been congested and the NRC would want to help in decongesting the port.
President Muhammadu Buhari on April 27 announced a “gradual easing” of COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, from May 4, after a four-week lockdown of the areas to contain the spread of COVID-19.
