Passenger traffic notches rail revenue 81% QoQ
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Rail transport revenue grew 81.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to N1.69 billion in Q4 2022, spurred by a rise in passenger traffic and intakes from other sources.
However, revenue declined 16 per cent year-on-year (YoY), caused by lost revenue from the long suspension of service on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
Rail contribution to transportation sector’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 0.03 per cent in Q4 2022, with high insecurity countrywide becoming a major bottleneck to patronage despite Abuja’s effort to integrate rail into the national transportation system.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows total rail revenue grew 81.2 per cent to N1.69 billion in Q4 2022 against 27.3 per cent rise in Q3. Total revenue dipped 16 per cent YoY, coming in from passenger fees, freight, and other sources.
Revenue growth
The QoQ growth in revenue was driven by passenger traffic, which more than doubled to 1.34 million in Q4 2022 from 500,000 in Q3 2022.
According to the NBS data, passenger revenue jumped +61.4 per cent QoQ to N1.15 billion in Q4 2022 (68 per cent of gross revenue but declined 39.5 per cent YoY to N1.15 billion).
Revenue from other incomes hiked 224 per cent QoQ to N382 million. Revenue from cargo transportation notched over N157 million, a 64 per cent rise YoY.
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Factors affecting revenue
Resumption of service on the Abuja-Kaduna line in December 2022 partly contributed to the QoQ rise in revenue. YoY decrease can be attributed to lost revenue from the long suspension of operations on the route, per Nairametrics.
The federal government suspended Abuja-Kaduna rail line operations in March 2022 due to security concerns.
GDP figures for Q4 2022 show the rail sector grew 3.8 per cent YoY, an improvement over contractions of -29.9 per cent in Q4 2021 and -37.9 per cent in Q4 2020.
Rail accounted for 0.03 per cent of transportation sector’s contributed to real GDP in Q4 2022.