Standup9ja: Panic as Abuja train breaks down in Jere
Fear gripped passengers on Abuja-Kaduna train at the weekend
when it experienced system failure near Jere, a community that experienced
series of kidnapping recently.
The Friday morning train, which took off from Idu in Abuja
around 7.03am had system failure twice. The first was before the train took off
in Idu, while the second was at Jere in Kaduna State.
Our correspondents report that the system failure in Jere
lasted 20 minutes, raising tension among passengers. It happened around 8.02am
and it was rectified by 8.22am. This is the second time the train is breaking
down in less than two weeks.
Announcement was made by an official of the Nigerian Railway
Service (NRC) that the system failure would be rectified in two minutes. “We
are sorry passengers; we are having system failure which will be rectified in
two minutes.”
It however took 20 minutes to be fixed. As soon as the
announcement was made passengers panicked.
Policemen in the train alighted from it and mounted a sort
of security around the train.
A regular passenger of the train urged the NRC authorities
to guard against a repeat of the system failure. He also advocated for the
deployment of more security personnel.
“We are lucky that it did not happen at night. I pray that
this is urgently looked into because this is the safest means of getting to
Kaduna from Abuja,” he said.
Another passenger said: “This is the second time that I’m
experiencing this. The first time we spent hours but today (Friday) we only
spent 20 minutes or so. Immediately it happened, what came to my mind were kidnappers.”
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