NRC suspends long distance passenger, freight train service due to derailment at Minna

Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended passenger and freight train service following the derailment of three wagons conveying cargoes from Lagos to Kano.

The derailment affected the passenger train conveying commuters to Kaduna and Kano as the felled wagons could not be immediately put back on track 

Hundreds of passengers travelling to the northern parts of the country are stranded and those who could wait for unlimited days had to travel by road to their various destination

The cargo train which took off from Lagos about a week ago could not continue to Kano, its final destination after it derailed.

NRC’s deputy director, public relations, Yakub Mahmood who confirmed the derailment said that the managing director of the corporation Engr. Fidet Okhiria had to travel to the scene of derailments when he received an emergency call.

According to one of the stranded passengers who gave his name as Wale Abiola, the technicians, who were at the site to evacuate the Kano bound cargo train from the Minna terminal to pave way for free movement of trains conveying passengers, were seen using jacks instead of a crane for the evacuation.

“Our problems are compounded by the fact that instead of using a crane, the NRC technicians are using ‘jack’ to evacuate the cargo train which is not only risky to the technicians due to the wright.

“Imagine in this century, Nigeria is using jack to evacuate heavy duty trains like this instead of deploying a crane to do the job.