A passenger who spoke to SaharaReporters said that the Nigerian Railway Corporation provides only three manual ticket spots at Warri Station for hundreds of passengers that ply the route every day.
Some regular passengers of the Warri-Itakpe Train Service from Delta State to Kogi State have lamented the shortage of ticketing spots at the Warri Station as the electronic ticketing keeps malfunctioning.
A passenger who spoke to SaharaReporters said that the Nigerian Railway Corporation provides only three manual ticket spots at Warri Station for hundreds of passengers that ply the route every day.
He said the spots are no longer enough because most passengers could not trust the alternative online ticketing platform which has been malfunctioning lately.
The passenger said it is no longer advisable to book multiple tickets online and this is what is pushing most of the passengers back to the manual way.
“When the e-ticketing was launched last November, the population at the stand(manual ticketing spots) reduced and this made movement easier for the passengers. But this has changed, people are abandoning e-ticketing for the manual and this is because of the problems they face.
“I also face this problem. There was a time when I booked multiple tickets online and I had issues with validation because of names. This situation frustrated my family and since then we stopped booking online.”
Another passenger who confirmed this situation urged the relevant authorities to look at these problems to avoid chaotic environments at the stations from passengers who always struggle to get their tickets from limited available spots.
“Three spots are too small for people boarding the train from Warri. The NRC should solve the problem with e-ticketing to reduce the crowd,” the passenger said.
When SaharaReporters contacted Nigerian Railway Corporation spokesman, Mr Mahmood Yakubu via telephone conversation on Wednesday morning, he said, “They are doings everything possible to address those situations.”
In November 2021, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) presented an Outline Business Case (OBC) certificate for the proposed electronic ticketing solutions for the Train Service to the NRC with the hope of easing the hardships faced by the passengers and generating more income.
It was projected that the federal government would generate N12.4bn and N9.6bn on both train services in four years (2021-2025) through e-ticketing at the time of launching.