The Minister of Transportation, Senator Said Alkali, has challenged the design of the train station which does not give easy access to the physically challenged and the elderly to use train services.
The Minister expressed the dissatisfaction when he conducted an unscheduled inspection tour of the Kubwa (Abuja) Train Station on Monday, in Abuja, following a report of vandalism of the main power supply from the national grid to the Train Station.
Senator Alkali further stought to ensure that the security and welfare of passengers are not compromised due to the power source vandalism which already plunged the Kubwa Train Station into darkness, wherein the management had to rely on alternative power sources for their operations.
Senator Alkali urged a quick liaison by Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and the station manager with Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for a quick restoration and ensure more security for the facility.
Senator Alkali while taking a further inspection of the station’s facilities, discovered that the staircase that passengers use when disembarking from trains coming inward to Kubwa, Abuja from Rigasa in Abuja, are not friendly to the physically challenged and the elderly.
Senator Alkali also observed the non existence of excalator but descibed it as an error of design, which did not consider the physically challenged and the elderly.
He therefore direct the Director, Rail Services, of the Ministry to note the errors so that they could be corrected at the level of the Ministry, the NRC, and the contractor.
The minister taking a further inspection tour of the facility discovered systems breakdown ranging from the communication rooms’ equipment breakdown, luggage security scanners breakdown.
The Minister calls for more attention to be given to the convenience to ensure that services provided to users at the train station are top-notch.
” After the inspection, we have taken note of several facilities that should serve the users of the station. We will be retreating to the office to do the needful at the level of the ministry, the Railway Corporation, and of course, the contractor, to see how we can fix” the facility,” he added.
