NRC apologises, blames technical hitch for Lagos-Ibadan train breakdown

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has apologised to passengers stranded when its train on the Lagos-Ibadan Standard gauge suddenly stopped on the way.

It said the stoppage was as a result of “technical hitches” on the diesel- propelled locomotive engine and not due to lack of or insufficient fuel.

Deputy Director Public Relations Mamood Yakub told The Nation that the breakdown was due to technical fault on the fuelling system of the locomotive.

This, he said, made the engineers to initially think of procuring more fuel until the fault was rectified.

Yakub, who apologised to the passengers for the delay and “unwholesome experience” on the train, said the corporation would not deliberately go out of its way to put them in harm’s way.

He said: “There is more than sufficient fuel for the convenient and timely journey from Ibadan to Lagos in the same locomotive fuel tank but in order to be proactive our staff immediately source fuel under the suspicion it was fuel shortage which was later discovered to be technical fault on the fueling system, not fuel insufficiency.”

He appealed to the general public, especially “our esteemed passengers and our numerous admirers of modern Railway project to continue having good faith in our operations as that is the surest means that will motivate us to serve you much better.

“Once again, kindly accept our unreserved apology for the inconveniences caused by that sudden and unforeseen Ibadan to Lagos Standard Gauge passenger train failure on Thursday 10th March, 2022.”