Hundreds of passengers of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) train from Ido, Lagos to Kajola in Ogun state were stranded on Tuesday when the engine broke down minutes after taking off.
The train, which took off from Ido, stopped at the Ebute-Metta junction (EBJ) to pick more passengers spending almost 20 minutes before taking off.
Daily Trust learnt that the train took off from EBJ around 6:46 and stopped again on approaching Mushin at around 7:10.
Many passengers were oblivious of what happened to the train when it abruptly stopped before getting to Mushin train station.
“We were inside the train for one hour before one official of the NRC on board announced to us that the locomotive busted.
“They said another engine would be deployed from EBJ to continue the trip. As I am talking to you now, the new locomotive has not arrived. We are stranded here and we don’t know when we would leave this place (Mushin),” one of the passengers told our reporter.
Daily Trust reports that there are 12 coaches fully loaded with passengers with majority of them boarding from Idu.
Sources said the train had developed fault at EBJ before it was fixed and the trip continued. But 10 minutes after, the train once again developed fault leaving passengers stranded for hours.
One of the passengers said the train would have gotten to Agbado in Ogun state, if not for the breakdown.
However, many of the passengers said they could not disembark from the train because it broke down at a spot far from the main road.
This is not the first time the narrow gauge train would break down after the resumption of services in January 2020; three months after it was suspended due to the ongoing construction of the standard gauge line.
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