… Passengers stranded as Lagos-bound train derails
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), yesterday, said the early morning Ibadan to Lagos trip was interrupted four times due to vandalised sections of the rail tracks.
This disclosure came after some stranded travellers took to social media to narrate their ordeal as a Lagos-bound train developed fault in the middle of a forest after it was forced to make sdden stops at unexpected locations along the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail.
According to a tweet by a passenger, Yinka Seth, via @inkaseth, “my first tweet went out at 8:12a.m. It is now 8:31a.m. and the train has stopped twice. The current explanation is that some steel parts of the rail tracks have been ‘removed’. That is the thing about bad governance and citizenship. Eventually, it will touch everybody.
“At 8:29a.m. we spotted someone holding a stick. Appeared to either be on a video call or making videos of the halted train. Passengers are tense and it is becoming harder to sit still.
“My friends and I are making notes to serve as our will if things go sideways. This is what it means to be Nigerian. You are constantly finding new ways to be in situations that are nothing short of madness. 8:46a.m. and the train is moving again. Wish us well.”
Seth said there had been a similar incident a day before (Sunday). According to him, “the train was heading from Lagos to Ibadan.”
But speaking with The Guardian, the Regional District Manager, NRC Southwest operations, Augustine Arisa, explained that the train kept stopping after the driver noticed that some clips had been removed from the rail tracks.
Arisa said: “Yes, today’s Ibadan to Lagos train stopped at different places along the rail tracks due to the removal of some of the clips on the track.
“There were some places where it was noticed that the track had been tampered with. Some of the fastener clips had been removed from the tracks, so the train kept stopping to check if the removed clips were many or not.
“If the removed clips were many, the train will have to reverse onto another track to continue the journey. So, it was because there were not many, that was why the train continued on that track.”
