NRC Suspends Train Services On Abuja-Kaduna Route
By Trek Africa Newspaper
The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended services on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
The development followed reports of alleged attack on its facility by suspected bandits.
Earlier, this medium had reported that a former Senator from Kaduna State, Shehu Sani, posted on his verified Twitter handle that bandits attacked a train on the route on Wednesday.
According to Sani, “Yesterday (Wednesday) terrorists attacked the Kaduna-Abuja railway with an explosive and opened fire on the train, targeting the engine driver and the tank.
“This (Thursday) morning, I was onboard when our train ran over another explosive damaged rail.”
Managing Director, NRC, Fidet Okhiria, said that services on the route had to be halted in order to carry out thorough investigations on the matter.
He said, “There was an explosion but until the team that is investigating the matter comes with its report we cannot confirm whether it is a bomb or not. But there was a blast.
“Operations have been stopped for today in order to do proper inspection and we hope that before the end of the day we would have done the needful.”
Okhiria, however, refuted claims of gunshots aimed at the train driver and the tank of the train.
“There was nothing like that. Only an explosive that went up on the track. Are you aware that we even ran a train service this morning?
“There was nothing like shooting or the train by bandits. Efforts are currently ongoing to ensure full train services are restored along that route”, he said.
