Nigeria seeks NMRC's support to improve railway system

A high-profile delegation from Nigeria was here on a two-day trip to understand the functioning of the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) and has sought its expertise in helping them improve their railway system, officials said Monday.

The nine-member panel comprising senior officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and Transportation Infrastructure Department had reached here Sunday, the NMRC officials said.

During the visit, the panel went around some metro stations to understand functioning of the Noida-Greater Noida Metro including the technical aspects of the ticketing system and the Automatic Fare Collection System (AFC) on the Aqua Line, an NMRC spokesperson said.

"The Nigerian officials were impressed by the spacious and beautiful stations of NMRC adorned with artwork. They were also impressed by the state-of-the-art technology used by NMRC in its ticketing and fare collection system and planned to replicate the same system in the Nigerian Railways, the spokesperson said.

The delegation visited the NMRC Depot in Greater Noida. Apart from the maintenance and stabling activities of the depot, the panel was given the tour of the highly-modernised Operations Control Centre (OCC), she said.

"The entire train monitoring and signalling system was explained in detail by NMRC officers and the delegation was fascinated by the centralised control system of NMRC equipped with the latest technology," she added.

After the visit, the officials from Nigeria interacted with NMRC Managing Director Alok Tandon.

"The Nigerian officials were very impressed by the entire functioning of NMRC's Aqua Line and appreciated the leadership behind the smooth functioning of the system. They also sought NMRC's expertise in helping them in improving their Railway system and helping them in implementing the latest technology in the Nigerian Railway System," the official said.

The visiting panel included Obiorah Emedolibe, Director (Legal) for Nigerian Railway Corporation, Emmanuel Onwatli, Director, Transportation Infrastructure Department, Bami Akinlade, Head of Technical Operations, among others.

Built for Rs 5,503 crore, theAquaLinewas opened on January 25 this year and connects the twin-cities of Noida and Greater Noida in western Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar, covering a distance of 29.7 km via 21 metro stations.