Amazing experiance, colorful train nice seat if you travel first class, with USB ports to charge phone
The station is less busy compared to the previous times before the serious security breach. The number of passengers reduced and there is only one daily trip Abuja to Kaduna and the other way now.
Nigerian Railway Corporation has evolved and this new revolution of the railway service is quite remarkable. There's a clear distance between the old stations/services and the new ones. The modernization is quite impressive. Everyone is comfortable opting for a train ride in this new system. The stations are modern, clean and organized. But there are clear rooms for improvement, especially with the passenger waiting set up after check in. They need to provide some sitting arrangement for passengers so they don't have to keep standing in a crowded manner while waiting for the train.
Nice.👍🏽 More organized than the Rigasa Station if I must compare.
There is a sitting area for passengers.
A restroom for both male and female.
A built in mosque/area where Muslims can pray.
Customer service here is better and this place is clean.
There is a very big parking space for vehicles here. You will see taxi here, although it might be expensive for you. Not to worry!
You can leave the parking lot and head to the road where you have the first entrance to the station. Here, you can stop a tricycle or bike. Tell them you are going to Arab Junction and you will be brought to the Kubwa Express/high way. From here you can enter along to your nearest bus stop. It saves you a lot of money but then just a little hassle.
I have uploaded some pictures in the photos section to show you pictorially what the place looks like.
This train station has got a beautiful structure. Timing of schedule was prompt and passengers were orderly. Looks like a secured place with the presence of police officers. It has a wide parking space for cars and you could get a taxi easily to your destination on arrival. The waiting area definitely needs more seats. And it will be necessary to start e-ticketing so as to reduce the queue at the ticketing points.
Really impressed with the place
☆ 5-star rating for;
● Overall cleanliness and orderliness in the station.
● For inbound trains to the station, there's always cabs and metro buses to take you anywhere in the city.
♤ P.S: The Kaduna-Abuja train now runs 2 trips to and fro as opposed to the earlier 3 trips (when the Abuja airport was under renovation)
♢ Setback:
I could've missed the train schedule because of outdated information on NRC website. They were still showing the 3-trip schedule. Thanks to a saving call that made me catch up with the first trip from Kaduna to Abuja by 10:35am.
So to save others, here's an...
♡ Estimate of the new schedule:
○ Abuja (Idu) - Kaduna (Rigassa)
7am to 10:15am (1st trip)
○ Rigassa - Idu
10:40am to 2:05pm (1st trip)
○ Idu - Rigassa
2pm to 5:15pm (2nd trip)
○ Rigassa to Idu
5:40pm to 9:05pm (2nd trip)
♡ New Ticket fares
Regular - #1050 (coaches 2 to 4)
Executive - #1500 (coach 1)
*fares for kids are lower.
♤ Tips:
● The train starts from Idu before it gets to Kubwa, so definitely for outbound trips from Kubwa, departure time will be some 30 minutes or so after departure from Idu and vice versa for arrival.
● Always be punctual. Try to be at the terminal about 30 mins to 1hr before your chosen trip. The train waits for no one. Except is there's any technical delay.
● Have a means of Identification like staff ID, student ID or any of the valid means of national identification with you.
● Time for weekend trips may vary, please confirm from a staff or possibly check if the number on the NRC website is available. I never tried it.
● I hope they update the website regularly so one can always get first hand info on trip schedule changes.
Overall, it's a smooth ride, with AC coaches and working Visual system.
Enjoy your trip! That's the future of transportation in the nation (if duly replicated across all zones).
And for once, I felt proud of my country.
Our trip was scheduled for 6.20am and as at 6.50am when we left the train hasn't arrived yet. Besides the lateness, the whole environment is neat.
I had a bad experience, i went there on a Saturday and apparently the station was on holiday and they didn't announce it to the public. Overall the station is clean and the trains are averagely good.
Clean station with ample parking space. No lifts available must use staircase to access platform.