Hundreds of travellers anxiously waited for the 6:00pm and 6.15pm train services at Abuja’s Idu and Kubwa stations, as the terminals were packed to the brim at 5.30pm on Friday.

Officials at the stations claimed that based on the crowds at the terminals, the train set to depart Abuja for Kaduna would be entirely full.

“The announcement of free train service, of course, mainly caused this crowd you are seeing here. But unfortunately, some of them don’t have tickets and we hope they can get it to join the train,” an official at the Idu station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

On Friday evening, all of the seats at both the Idu and Kubwa terminals were taken, while hundreds of people waited for the train inside and outside the terminals.

The Federal Government announced on Friday the free train service in a notice issued by the Nigerian Railway Corporation with reference number PRO.14/TROPS/VOL.1/50, and signed by the Deputy Director, Public Relations, NRC, Yakub Mahmood.

The free train service was approved by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, according to the NRC, as it stressed that the gesture was for all its passenger train services across the country.

The NRC said, “The Federal Government through Ministry of Transportation has in the spirit of Christmas declared passenger trains across the Nigerian Railway Corporation system free of charge during the Christmas period to enable Nigerians to travel and celebrate Christmas.

“All the passenger trains on both standard and narrow gauge lines, which include Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, Warri to Itakpe, Kano to Lagos, Minna to Kaduna, Aba to Port-Harcourt routes are now all free from today Friday, December 24, 2021 to Tuesday, January 4, 2022 inclusive.”

The NRC, however, explained that all due process required to get boarding tickets must be complied with and that the tickets would not be paid for.

It also stated that all COVID-19 protocols must be strictly observed on board the trains.