Abuja-Kaduna Rail Crisis: Senate Says Bicycle Beats Train, Orders Probe

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate on Thursday raised alarm over the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s rail services, declaring the once-popular Abuja–Kaduna train has slowed so badly that a bicycle or commercial tricycle (Keke Napep) can now arrive faster.

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, delivered the stark verdict as lawmakers reviewed complaints about declining performance on the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano corridor.

The development promoted the immediate inauguration of a Senate ad hoc committee to conduct a holistic investigation into the railway system within six weeks.

Akpabio lamented that a service that initially took about one and a half hours from Abuja to Kaduna now takes more than three hours, underscoring what he described as a collapse in efficiency.

“If you are using a bicycle, you will get to Kaduna faster than the train. We gather that even Keke Napep will get to Kaduna faster than the train,” he said.

The committee, set up by the Senate in November 2025, is chaired by Senator Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State and senator representing Edo North.

The debate was triggered by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), who rose under a personal explanation to recount his recent experience on the route and to present what he called a “tragic Nigerian story” of decline.

Ningi told the Senate that when the service commenced in 2015, the railway operated 10 daily trips. That is five from Abuja to Kaduna and five in the opposite direction, moving about 10,000 passengers daily.

According to him, those figures have collapsed dramatically.

Ningi said, “Last two weeks, I visited Kaduna like I used to with the railway, and what I found was disturbing.

“I met the manager, and he gave me the statistics. From about 10,000 passengers a day, the number has dropped to between 800 and 900.”

He added that the daily shuttles had been reduced from 10 to just two, with only one trip from Abuja to Kaduna at 7am and another from Kaduna to Abuja at 1.30pm.

Ningi further disclosed that at full capacity, the railway generated about N1.8 billion monthly, a revenue stream now severely threatened by the sharp decline in patronage.

Recounting his latest journey, the Bauchi senator said passengers spent over three and a half hours on a trip that once took 90 minutes, with the train moving at what he described as painfully slow speed.

He said, “When the railway started, it was one and a half hours to Kaduna. Last week when I went, we spent three and a half hours. People had no alternatives.

“This is very disturbing. It should disturb this Senate and Nigerians that, as it is, nobody seems ready to do anything about it.”

Ningi also alleged that some equipment installed during the execution of the rail contract may have been second-hand, suggesting that Nigeria was short-changed.

Responding, Akpabio said the Senate would not ignore the complaints and inaugurated the ad hoc committee to probe the railway system, identify the causes of the decline and recommend urgent remedial measures.

Other members of the committee include Senators Hussaini Babangida (Jigawa North-West), Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), and Wasiu Eshinlokun (Lagos Central).

Others are, Osita Ngwu (Enugu West), Solomon Adeola (Ogun West), Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe Central), Ireti Kingibe (FCT), Ede Dafinone (Delta Central), Sahabi Yau (Zamfara North) and Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central).

The Abuja–Kaduna standard gauge rail line, spanning 186.5 kilometres, was inaugurated in 2016 by the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

The project, estimated at $1.64 billion, was initiated under late President Umar Yar’Adua, continued under President Goodluck Jonathan and executed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Available records show the project was partially financed with a $500 million loan from China’s Exim Bank, with the balance provided by the federal government.