- NRC technicians using jacks, not crane, to evacuate the derailed cargo train
A Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) cargo train has detailed at the terminal in Minna terminal at the Niger State capital, throwing hundreds of passengers travelling to the Northern and Southern parts of the country stranded.
Sources confirmed that the cargo train took off from Lagos about a week ago could not continue to Kano, its final destination after it derailed.
Passengers in other passenger trains coming from Lagos could not proceed as the detailed cargo train had blocked the tracks.
According to one of the stranded passengers who gave his name as Idowu, 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 its heaviness but passengers.
“Imagine in this century, Nigeria is using jack to evacuate heavy duty trains like this instead of having a crane to do the job. What if the train, which is about to fall off, falls on any of the mechanics or engineers, or even the passengers?” he asked.
Majority of the passengers who are returning to their base after the Christmas and New Year holidays condemned the pace of the evacuation.
Some of the passengers in an interview decried what they termed lack of commitments on the federal government in bringing rail transportation to proper functioning.
Copyright PUNCH
