The management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation has said passenger train operation on the Port Harcourt-Aba route will commence fully by the end of March 2024.

To this end, the corporation has warned traders doing business along the rail side within the route to desist forthwith in order not to be involved in any untoward incident.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NRC, Freeborn Okhorie, who disclosed this during a chat with journalists shortly after the inspection of the Eastern Narrow Gauge Rail Line in Port Harcourt on Friday, reiterated that trading at the side of the rail line would no longer be tolerated.

The NRC boss said though he was not completely satisfied with the work done so far, he noted that more mileage would have been achieved but for paucity of funds.

While noting that the rail tracks were not yet balanced. Okhorie, however, said work was still ongoing and assured that before the ending of March,  every segment would be fixed.

On the expected fares to be charged, he stated, “You can’t pay enough based on the price of diesel now. What we are doing is providing service to Nigerians. Rail is a service to the people.

“But I know it is not going to be the same amount that they were paying before now because if we have to sustain we should be able to raise the money 50 percent so that we can sustain the operation.”