No fewer than 26 passengers and crew members have sustained varying degrees of injuries in the Abuja–Kaduna train mishap on Monday, according to the Nigerian Railway Corporation(NRC).
The NRC’s Managing Director, Kayode Opeifa, said in a statement released on Tuesday through his X handle that the incident happened at approximately 9:16 a.m. close to Asham Station when a loud noise was heard as a portion of the train formation impacted.
He claims that the Kaduna–Abuja service (KA-2) left Rigassa Station at 7:15 a.m. and reached Jere Station at 8:52 a.m., one minute early.
“The train departed Jere at 8:59 a.m., six minutes behind schedule due to the coupling of locomotive 2809 to the rake to create more resilience,” he said.
Opeifa clarified that the incident occurred between kilometre points 50 and 51 as the train approached Asham Station.
“At about 9:16 a.m., a loud bang was heard as the power car and trailing locomotive collided with one of the coaches. Preliminary reports suggest an issue with one or more couplers.
“None of the coaches derailed, and the reason for the possible decoupling is yet to be ascertained,” he said.
He also added that the passenger coach SP0006, power car BVA0002, and locomotive 2809—all of which were involved in the incident—were later disconnected.
Later, the train left the site at 9:42 a.m., arrived at Kubwa at 10:10 a.m., and arrived at Idu Station at 10:39 a.m., resulting in a 38-minute delay.
Additionally, Opeifa provided information about the passengers, stating that there were 481 people aboard the train overall, including 429 of the 459 that were scheduled to embark.
Others on board included 10 train crew members, 26 security personnel, six food vendors, eight cleaners, and two third-party operators.
“A total of 26 people with varying degrees of injuries were recorded among the passengers, medical crew, cleaners and security personnel attached to the service,” he said.
On service recovery, the NRC boss said operations resumed later in the day, with the Abuja–Kaduna train service commencing the AK1 trip from Idu to Rigassa at 2:48 p.m., against a scheduled departure time of 11:00 a.m.
He added that the train arrived Rigassa at 5:33 p.m., with him and other NRC officials on board, and that a return service departed Rigassa at 6:12 p.m., arriving Kubwa at 8:31 p.m. and Idu at 8:58 p.m.
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