Derailment: NRC suspects vandalism as repair work on Warri-Itakpe train tracks begins

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) engineers have commenced the repair of the damaged portion of the Warri-Itakpe Train Service which derailed on Sunday.

The corporation is suspecting vandalism of the tracks as the cause of the derailment as investigation into the incident has commenced.

Daily Trust reports that the train had derailed in the forest of Kogi leaving the passengers stranded.

However, 148 passengers and 30 crew members were evacuated unhurt.

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Speaking with Daily Trust yesterday, the coordinator of Warri-Itakpe Train Service, Engr. Sanni Abdulganiyu said vandalism was being suspected as the cause of the strike but said investigation was ongoing to ascertain the immediate and remote cause of the incident.

He, however, said the repair works, which had commenced, would end within a week.

“The truth of the matter is it was suspected that the track was tampered with but investigation is still on. I cannot preempt what will come out of the investigation.

“We have commenced the repair work and we are hoping that it will be done in a week.”

Daily Trust reports that the NRC has consistently expressed concerns over persistent vandalism of railway infrastructures.

The Lagos-Ibadan Train Service has also recorded several cases of vandalism, which has stalled train movements on several occasions.

A source in NRC told our correspondent that the vandalism of railway infrastructure is on the increase.

“Our tracks are being tampered with. We have instances where bolts and knots were removed and, in some places, a whole track was removed. It takes the expertise of our staff to detect this problem and they would slow down to prevent the train from derailing,” the source said.

The NRC Managing Director, Engr. Fidet Okhiria had said the corporation would install sensors on some on the tracks across the railway corridors to guide against vandalism.