Hundreds of passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train service were Monday stranded in the middle of nowhere as the Kaduna-Abuja train developed fault few minutes after leaving Rigasa station in Kaduna State.
A passenger tweeted that the train had initially stopped twice before it finally broke down in the middle of a forest in Dutse, Kaduna around 7:00am.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC), Fidelis Okhiria, who confirmed the incident to The Guardian, said the train broke down as a result of engine failure but added that a relief engine has taken over.
An engineer of the NRC, who addressed the passengers on board, told them that it would take two hours to fix the train. “We are very sorry, the locomotive is faulty. We have contacted the Idu Train Station for another locomotive. It would take them two hours to be here,’’ he said.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had assured last year that locomotives on the route that have broken down up to two times would be returned to China.
He said: “It is worrisome that these locomotives that are brand new are failing. The locomotives have a warranty that covers them for over four years and the government is considering returning them to China.”
However, passengers have continued to lament the rigours of travelling on the route by train and encountering incessant breakdowns, which leave them stranded for hours. Regular travellers have expressed worries that the rail route, which has been a safer alternative to the bandits-infested Kaduna-Abuja expressway, is also beginning to feel insecure.
Midat Joseph, an Assistant National Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said the train developed fault around 7:00 a.m. He said: “I left my house as early as 5:00 a.m. to join the 6:40 a.m. train but unfortunately I have been trapped here in this forest. This is not the first time I will be experiencing this mess.”
Another passenger said he had similar experience on Saturday, saying they spent more than five hours to get to Abuja for the one and half hours journey. “This is unfortunate. On Saturday, we left Abuja by 6:00 pm but we did not get to Kaduna until past 11:00 pm.”
Another train user said: “It is corruption. They collect a lot of money from travellers but they cannot service the trains. This is not proper. The NRC needs to look into the careless attitude of its workers and engineers. Some of the trains are now a shadow of their former selves due to lack of proper maintenance.
“The bandits and kidnappers must be wishing that one day, the trains would break down in a place where they can operate and they would have a field day. The government should not endanger the lives of travellers.”
The NRC, however, insisted that breakdown of the train is a normal occurrence that happens with anything that has mechanical and electrical components. According to the Operations Manager for the Abuja-Kaduna trains, Mr. Victor Adamu, it is a normal occurrence for anything that is mechanical.
He said: “The breakdown was reported to me for the first time today. Allegations of the trains breaking down incessantly before today, I cannot speak on that. The breakdown of the Abuja-Kaduna train is a normal occurrence for anything that is mechanical or electrical. I am only aware of the breakdown that occurred today. I am not aware of any other breakdown that happened before today.
“Immediately today’s breakdown was reported to my office, what we did was to activate a relief to the point of failure, and bring the train to its point of destination in Idu. Any other thing outside what I just told you, I am not aware of.”
The Operations Manager also declined to speak on whether the breakdown is due to a poor maintenance culture by the NRC on the trains.
The Station Manager, Pascal Nnorli, apologised to passengers on board the KA2 train that left Rigasa Monday but failed at Dutse section as a result of mechanical malfunction. He noted that the development was regretted.
Nnorli said the failed locomotive “is currently receiving attention from our team of engineers and technicians at the Idu locomotive workshop, Abuja. “While thanking our esteemed passengers for their patronage, we once more sincerely apologise for inconveniences this breakdown would have caused them.”
In November 2020, the NRC had apologised for any inconveniences caused passengers as the locomotive turbocharge failed causing a breakdown on Abuja-Kaduna rail route. He pledged NRC’s commitment to ensure there is no reoccurrence of the incident in future.
The Minister of Transportation also apologised to Nigerians for the breakdown, which occurred between November 18 and 20. He had said: “I want to apologise to Nigerians over what happened at the Abuja-Kaduna rail station.
“We now have new locomotives and we have called the Chinese because we never expected the mechanical fault at this early stage. On behalf of the Federal Government, the ministry and the NRC, we apologise to Nigerians and I have instructed the NRC to fix it or invite the Chinese. If this is happening now, then they should bring back our old locomotives, it will just affect turnaround times because we get the new locomotive to increase the turnaround time.”
But six weeks later, the train broke down again on January 3, this time around Akere, a rural area in Kaduna, where NRC engineers battled to fix it for over three hours.
Incidentally, the January incident was confirmed to reporters by Victor Adamu, the Operations Manager. According to him, the fault was a minor issue that had already been fixed.