The National Office of Transport (Onatra) is called upon to improve the quality of its services, especially in the area of the Kinshasa urban train. Passengers who denounce the poor quality of these services accuse the agents assigned to this train serving the Central Station line in the Gombe  to Kimwenza in Mont Ngafula commune and vice versa.

They particularly mention the lack of respect for passengers. As recently as Friday, February 9, this train left the central station at 5 PM and reached the Matete station around 6 PM, where it remained stationary for over two hours.

No one provided passengers with any information about the reasons for this lengthy stop. Crew members, especially ticket sellers, left the train to sit in a corner where they sipped a glass of beer instead of informing passengers about what had happened.

Various rumors then began to spread among the cars. Some spoke of a derailment, others of a crossing situation due to the arrival of a locomotive in the opposing direction,  others still of a tree that had fallen on the track and was being cleared away.

To get to the bottom of it, some got in touch with these ticket sellers who showed arrogance by explaining that it was not their concern.

In such circumstances, embarrassed passengers preferred to take other means of transport to reach their destination. Those who did not have the resources were forced to wait in cars in unparalleled darkness, given that the electrical system was not working. And as if that wasn't enough, mosquitoes had gathered there.

A few weeks ago, at the 14th street in Limete, the military engineering services, working on sanitation around the railway network, dumped a mountain of garbage on the track with a chainsaw, forcing the train to halt for 30 minutes.

That's not all. They accuse ticket sellers of selling stubs instead of tickets, although the latter are still available. This raises the question about where the money from the sale of these stubs goes.

To board the urban train, one must pay 1500 FC for luxury cars and 1000 FC for ordinary cars. But sometimes holders of luxury car tickets end up waiting in ordinary cars because the doors of the former are not opened in time.

Generally, the urban train does not adhere to the departure time. Similarly, tickets are sometimes sold at stations while the locomotive is in the garage. And curiously, in such cases, ONATRA does not refund the customers.

Boni Tsala