Passengers on the Thursday afternoon Abuja–Kaduna Train Service have received an apology from the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) after the train was forced to return to Kaduna because a backup engine lost power soon after departure.
According to sources, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, the NRC’s managing director, called previous claims alleging that passengers were stranded “misleading” and insisted that travelers were never abandoned.
According to Opeifa, the company’s stringent safety procedures led to the decision to reverse the train less than half an hour into the trip after it was found that the backup locomotive was malfunctioning.
He stated, “It was advisable to pull back to Rigasa, Kaduna for safety reasons, even though the train could have continued the journey due to security concerns on the route and given that they were less than 30 minutes into the trip.”
He claims that the action is similar to international aviation safety protocols, which call for aircraft to quickly divert in the event of an engine failure.
About an hour after the train was brought back to Rigasa Station for inspections, the trip continued at 4:00 p.m., according to the NRC chief. The train was about eighty minutes late when it finally reached Idu Station in Abuja at 18:52.
He said that the public address systems at the station and on board kept passengers informed at every stage.
The train might have continued and shunted at any of the closest stations, Jere, Rijana, or Gidan, if the event had happened during a morning service, according to Opeifa, but this was avoided because it was an evening trip, when the route posed greater security threats.
Noting that no passenger was in danger, Opeifa requested media outlets to confirm stories before publishing them in order to prevent misleading the public.
He emphasized that the NRC is still dedicated to “upholding high standards of safety and reliability across all routes, whether on narrow or standard gauge lines” and that the company will keep making sure that every passenger reaches their destinations without incident.
