As part of its drive to make rail transport popular again, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced its plan to introduce e-ticketing into rail transportation across Nigeria.
This comes after months of pressure from well-meaning Nigerians who bemoaned the stress of booking tickets offline at train stations.
While it isn’t clear when the corporation intends to commence implementation of the scheme, NRC managing director, Fidet Okhiria provided an insight into how it would work.
“The tickets can be sold through phones,” the MD said. “And also in designated outlets hence there will be franchising and it will still be sold at the stations.”
Thus, it might be safe to conclude that there will be three main points of purchase: you can buy it yourself via your mobile device, or via an agent at designated outlets, and at train stations.
NRC’s e-ticketing model appears to mirror the Indian model for trains which relies on the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) app for bookings, reservations, payments and other activities.
Both systems adopt the use of mobile devices to make ticketing convenient. Both systems also encourage the use of agents and franchises to bring ticket purchase outlets closer to their teeming population as well as cater to folks who aren’t digitally savvy.
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