Passengers stranded, query engines’ quality
By Ajuma Edwina Ogiri
Abuja
For the second time in less than one month, the Abuja-Kaduna railway service, had its operations disrupted yesterday, leaving the passengers stranded for almost four hours.
The service which was inaugurated by President Muhammdu Buhari on July 26, 2016, was completed at the cost of $1.457billion and commenced operations some six months ago, raking in N5.1million in first two weeks of its takeoff.
Before now, the train had similarly broken down along same route on December 19, 2016, with passengers lamenting their fate during the two hours they spent in the bush.
One of the passengers on board then, Isaac Egboja, lamented on his twitter handles, @egbojalaughter thus: “So, our new train broke down today in the middle of nowhere for about 2 hours, leaving passengers at the mercy of nature. Who is responsible for its servicing? Government property. Smh!”
And for the second time in just three weeks, the train heading to Rigasa Station, Kaduna from Idu Mega Station, Abuja, again broke down yesterday, raising questions on the newness of the engines.
The train, billed to arrive Rigasa Station between 9:30 and 10 am, reportedly broke down at Rijana Station, some 50 kilometres away from Rigasa station, due to mechanical fault.
And while this lasted, the passengers waiting to catch the train from the Rigasa end, Kaduna, down to Abuja, were increasingly becoming uncomfortable, as the time for their various appointments in the nation’s capital city was fast lapsing.
It was such a nightmare for the passengers on board with many of them looking visibly angry and shouting on top of their voices in the bush, which is said to be quite a long distance to the main express road.
And following the non availability of water, our reporter gathered that the commuters defecated freely in the conveniences, leaving the entire coaches messy.
The commuters’ plight was better captured by one of them (damsey01) who simply posted on the social media the travails of his fellow travellers at about 11.06am.
He writes: “The popularly celebrated Abuja-Kaduna train jus broke down at Rijana like 50 kilometres to Kaduna leaving all passengers stranded. The problem is the station is like 30 minutes walk from the main express road.
“So, people with lots of luggage will have to wait till anytime they get to fix it. Even other people with no luggage were afraid of been kidnapped by herdsmen in the middle of nowhere. This is barely 6 months that train started working.
“Does it mean that the engine heads that were bought were second hand abi Belgium? Because I don’t think a new train that has just been used for barely 6 months should be breaking down in the middle of nowhere.”
Also expressing similar concern, an Abuja bound passenger waiting at the Kaduna end, Thomas I. Joseph, told our reporter how fellow passengers almost caused chaos after a seemingly endless wait.
According to him, passengers were frustrated and agitated when the train had not arrived at the appointed time.
He said: “When the train did not arrive as at when due, passengers became agitated. The train station announced that the train would arrive in 30 to 20 minutes time. The train arrived far beyond the time that was given, because they sent for another train from Idu station to Kaduna, which finally arrived at about 1.45.pm
“The second train that was brought from Idu Station to pick passengers from Rigasa Station, was also not technically sound as it jerked all through the two hours, thirty minutes journey.
“Passengers were frustrated; children travelling with their parents were crying of hunger, the train was over booked as so many passengers were standing, while some sat on the floor thereby hindering movements from one coach to another or to the rest rooms. The toilets were also messed up because there was no water to flush.”
While commending the staff for managing the situation, Thomas wondered why the ‘new engines’ should break down so soon.
“It’s too early for the engines of the train to breakdown, seeing that it is less than a year since they began operation. Ideally, it is supposed to take at least up to five to 10 years before it starts developing problems,” Thomas, who works in Blueprint, added.
Efforts to get the reaction of the both the Kaduna and Abuja District Managers of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, could not materialise as at the press time.