Nigerians have taken to social media to complain about the hike in train tickets on the Abuja-Kaduna route as the station’s online ticketing platform has been experiencing downtime as well as insecurity ravaging the route.

“Train from Kaduna to Abuja is now 15-20k. Online booking is also down,” a Twitter user posted on Tuesday morning. 

“Today at Rigasa train station, the booking app stopped working since Friday due to an upgrade and people are scared to travel by road. Train ticket of 2600 is now 10k above at black market price.,” another Twitter user posted on Tuesday. 

A Twitter user disclosed that the online ticketing platform began experiencing a glitch on Friday.

“So the ticketing app & site for the Kaduna-Abuja train have been down since Friday. The Nigerian in me cannot help but think this is deliberate sabotage by NRC staff to exploit people’s desperation. Tickets now are going for between 10k & 20k,” the Twitter user said. 

An attendant at the train station, who identified himself as Ilya, confirmed the downtime of the ticketing platform to Peoples Gazette and the exorbitant fares being charged at the black market. 

“If you come late, that’s when you have to buy it at the black market,” Mr Ilya said, “We expect the ticketing platform to be back at least by tomorrow.”

Last week, the police command in the state said its operatives had killed a notorious bandit terrorising the route and arrested an accomplice in the state.