•The derailed Abuja-Kaduna train
Transportation Minister Said Ahmed Alkali has assured Nigerians that the damaged portions of the Abuja-Kaduna tracks will be restored in the next 10 days.
Some portions of the rail tracks and coaches were damaged last Tuesday when a Kaduna-bound train derailed at Asham Station, reports The Nation.
There were 618 passengers, comprising 583 passengers, 15 crew members of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), one medical personnel, eight cleaners, and 11 catering workers onboard when the train derailment occurred.
Seven passengers sustained varying degrees of injury in the accident.
Alkali announced the repair works yesterday in Abuja following an inspection of the accident scene.
The minister hailed security personnel and other stakeholders for ensuring the safety of the passengers, the workers, and the rail infrastructure in the ongoing operations to restore the damaged tracks and coaches.
He stated that the NRC workers have been working day and night to ensure that the clearing and repairing of the damaged tracks are completed at the earliest possible time.
Alkali said: “I thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support since the incident happened. He has given us the support to ensure that we move the locomotive and the coaches and fix the rail line so that we will be back in operation.
“From what I have seen, I also want to commend the Managing Director of NRC and his team because they are on site, as you can see, day and night, trying to restore normalcy after the incident.
“Actually, the incident occurred at a point where we have two rail lines. Normally, we are running around two trains at a time. So, there are points where the two trains will interchange.
“So, normally, we have a point there. That is where the accident occurred. However, I am not in a position now to pre-empt the investigation, to say why the incident happened.
“I am here with the team from the Ministry of Transportation, the Director of Railway and all his engineers, and even the committee doing the investigation. The CCECC officials are here, civil society organisations, and we are here to ensure we do justice to the investigation.
“I also want to commend the MD of CCECC and his team. He has been very supportive of our ministry and of the NRC since the incident occurred.
“At the time the accident occurred, the locomotive was carrying eight coaches. We have successfully moved four out of the place, and we are trying to fix the infrastructure so that we have a bigger crane, so that we can move the coaches and all the locomotives that are on the site.
“In shaa Allah, in the next 48 hours, we will be able to move all of them out of the site. After that, if we don’t have weather challenges, in the next 10 days, we are going to restore the line.”
The minister explained that only about 150 metres of the tracks were affected by the accident.
“It is only about 150 metres that were affected. So, it’s not too long. We will be able to fix the sleepers, the pallets, and the rail track so that we can be back in operation. It is a cardinal responsibility of government to provide welfare for its citizens.”
Alkali spoke on the government’s efforts to prevent a recurrence.
He said: “The teams are doing their best to ensure that such does not happen again. However, it is the outcome of the investigation that will reveal what actually happened. Then we will look at it and ensure it doesn’t happen again, by the grace of God Almighty.”
