Derailed train: NRC speaks on extent of damage, says ‘we shall overcome’

The Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC) says no casualties occurred due to the derailment of an Abuja-Kaduna train on Friday.

Speaking at the scene of the incident, Ibrahim Musa, chairman of the board of NRC directors, said the commission is still trying to figure out what caused the derailment.

He added that the public would be informed when the cause has been ascertained.

“This afternoon, we had an unfortunate incident almost within the parameter of the train station in Kubwa. It happened at about 3:25pm. Immediately we got the information, we abandoned everything and rushed here. The accident affected all three rail lines,” he said.

“We’re still trying to find out whether it is equipment failure, human error or interference. We have been here for a long time trying to ascertain what happened, we don’t want to speculate. We are making out observations and we’ll let the public know later.”

The chairman said the rail cannot be used until the wreckage of the derailed train has been cleared.

He also assured that there were no casualties in the incident.

“No train can use this rail until we clear this wreckage. The lines are affected, the rails have gone off, a lot of the clips we have for the rails have been broken, and even the rail has been displaced,” he said.

“Our team is getting prepared. They are supposed to come from Idu. If we work through tomorrow, we’ll probably be able to at least get a line through. The only thing is that we’ll have to change how we do the changeover of the rails.

“It is only the loco that derailed. The loco is very massive and it is the inertia of the impact that caused a lot of the damage. There were no casualties. All the passengers disembarked.”

On if he is worried that this is the second train derailment in two weeks, he said “certainly we are not happy, but we shall overcome”.