Several passengers were said to have abandoned the train for fear of being kidnapped.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended services along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor due to derailment of the train at Kubwa, Abuja, on Friday.
SaharaReporters on Friday reported that the train plying the Abuja-Kaduna State route derailed, forcing many passengers to be stranded.
The passenger train was heading to Kaduna from Abuja on Friday when the accident occurred, in Kubwa area of the FCT, SaharaReporters had learnt.
This came a few days after a train plying the Warri-Itakpe route derailed in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria.
The incident happened inside a Kogi State forest.
Several passengers were said to have abandoned the train for fear of being kidnapped.
On January 7, 2023, some gunmen kidnapped 20 passengers waiting to board a train at the train station in the Igueben Local Government Area of the Edo State.
The NRC Director of Operations, Niyi Alli, who regretted the derailment of the Abuja-Kaduna train, apologised to passengers whose trips were cancelled due to the incident on Friday.
“The Board and Management of NRC regret to inform the general public, particularly our passengers of AK3 and KA4 of today January 27, that the disruption experienced on our Abuja-Kaduna Train Service was as a result of the derailment of KA4 at Kubwa station.
“There was no casualty recorded. We sincerely apologise to passengers whose planned trips were affected by this incident.
“The NRC rescue team has been mobilised to site to re-rail the rolling stock and repair the track. Consequently, the Abuja Kaduna Train Service is temporary suspended.
“While assuring early recommencement of the service, all inconveniences to our esteemed passengers is highly regretted,” Mr Alli said.
The director then expressed the commitment of the management to ensure introduction of additional operational measures nationwide to ensure safe train operations.
Recall that the train service along the corridor resumed operations on December 5, after being suspended for over eight months due to a terrorists’ attack on March 28, 2022.
The attack led to the death of eight people with several people injured and over 60 kidnapped.