Mr Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said the organisation would commence web-based ticketing nationwide to solve the challenge of racketeering in stations.
Okhiria, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, said NRC has advertised for capable firms to handle the project.
“We have advertised for people to submit their interest and we have gotten so many companies showing interest, so we can have many vendors.
“We want to get a secured backbone to be handled by secured company. I understand the need for cyber security, so latest by end of March it will commence nationwide, and we are presently doing presentations.”
Responding to allegation that officials in Kubwa station sold tickets without available seat to passengers on Jan. 19, Okhiria said standing in train was not new even if the passengers are notified.
The NRC chief said such tickets do not carry a seat number but a standing ticket is written on it.
“In the rail system even in developed countries like Europe people stand. I have stood in London train; even here we tell passengers that there is no seat, if they like to stand.
“If you look at those tickets, we don’t give a seat number on those tickets, we write standing on it.
“It is voluntary; some of the passengers volunteer to stand instead of waiting for the next train. We don’t sell the standing ticket until 10 minutes to the train departure.
“It is not a mistake but we ensure that the person is aware that there is no seat,” he said.
Okhiria said with the additional new coaches on the Abuja-Kaduna rail, cases of racketeering in the station would be a thing of the past
