The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has apologised to the passengers on board the KA2 train that left Rigasa on Monday morning and failed at Dutse section due to mechanical issues.
The Manager, Abuja-Kaduna Train Service, Mr Paschal Nnorli, made the apology in a statement on Monday.
“The NRC is by this medium tendering our sincere apology to all the passengers on board KA2 train that left Rigasa this morning and failed at Dutse section.
“The failure which was as a result of mechanical malfunction is highly regretted.
“This failure and consequent delay no doubt caused delays to subsequent train services from Abuja to Kaduna.
“The failed locomotive is currently receiving attention from our team of engineers and technicians at the Idu Locomotive Workshop,” Nnorli said.
The manager, however, thanked its esteemed passengers for their patronage, while regretting inconveniences the breakdown would have caused them.
The Sunrise News (SN) reports that the breakdown left passengers stranded for over three hours before a rescue locomotive was sent from Idu station in Abuja.
It wasn’t the first time the train would suffer a breakdown. It is about the fourth time, making passengers to begin to wonder if any lessons are being learnt in forstall repeat of breakdowns which has become routine on that corridor.
Meanwhile, corporation’s management said yesterday that breakdowns are normal feature in railway operations.
The Operations Manager for the Abuja-Kaduna train, Victor Adamu explained that it is a normal occurrence for anything mechanical.
“For anything that is mechanical and electrical, at times, things like this happen. I am only aware of the breakdown that happened on Monday. I am not aware of any other breakdowns that happened before today. No such thing has been reported to my office.
“When I got the report, I immediately activated a relief to the point of the failure and evacuated the broken down train for repair”.
Reports claimed the train developed fault around 7am.