10th September, 2016
The train took off from Lagos for Oshogbo.
The Aregbesola-led government has been offering the free train ride to Osun indigenes every festive season in the past six years.
Some of the commuters commended the governor for giving them the opportunity of going home to see their loved ones.
A civil servant, Mr Tajudeen Olafare, who boarded the train with his wife and three children, said that it was his first time of boarding a train.
“We have been here since 4a.m. from Okokomaiko, waiting to board the train; it is real,” Olafare said.
Another commuter, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ajao, said that the free ride was a good initiative, especially in a period of economic recession.
According to her, the gesture has given many Osun indigenes the opportunity of spending festive periods in their villages at little or no cost.
Meanwhile, Mr Jerry Oche, the Lagos Railway District Manager of Nigerian Railway Corporation, said that the available train could not convey all intending passengers on Saturday.
Oche said that some of the passengers had been told to wait till Sunday since the train had a maximum capacity.
Oche said: “We have two trains tomorrow but today it is one; l advise that people should not hang on the train because it is a long journey.
“People should cooperate with our checkers and security agents. I have told our checkers and security agents to be vigilant during the journey.”
The 10-coach train was filled with people, bags of rice and rams.
The 2016 Eid-El-Kabir is slated for Sept. 12.