Tens of passengers on the ever busy Abuja/Kaduna train service are currently stranded in Dutse, Kaduna, as the train developed faults few minutes into the journey
As if it is now the new normal, hundreds of passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train service have been left stranded in the bush prone to bandits violence and kidnapping after the train developed fault minutes after leaving Rigasa station in Kaduna state.
The train initially stopped twice before it finally broke down in Dutse, Kaduna early iin the morning.
But the Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidelis Okhiria, who confirmed that the the train broke down as a result of engine failure, however said a relief engine has taken over.
Midat Joseph, an Assistant National Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), who is one of the passengers, said the train developed fault around 7:am.
“ I left my house as early as 5:am to join the 6:40am train but unfortunately I have been trapped here in this forest. This is not the first time I will be experiencing this mess,” he said.
Another passenger, said he had similar experience on Saturday, saying they spent six hours to get to Abuja.
“This is unfortunate. On Saturday, we spent five hours from Abuja to Kaduna. We left Abuja 6:pm but we did not get to Kaduna until 11:pm,” he said.
An engineer of the NRC, who addressed the passengers, told them that it would take them 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 passengers were finally evacuated at 10:20am.