This was after a cargo train derailed from its track.
Passengers in their hundreds and travelling to the northern parts of the country were stranded at the Nigerian Railway Corporation terminal in Minna, the Niger State capital.
This was after a cargo train derailed from its track.
It was learnt that the cargo train took off from Lagos State about a week ago and could not continue to its final destination to Kano State after it derailed.
Also, the passengers in other passenger trains coming from Lagos could not proceed as the detailed cargo train had blocked the tracks.
According to one of the stranded passengers who gave his name as Idowu, the technicians, who were at the site to evacuate the Kano bound cargo train from the Minna terminal to pave way for free movement of trains conveying passengers, were seen using jacks instead of a crane for the evacuation.
“Our problems are compounded by the fact that instead of using a crane, the NRC technicians are using ‘jack’ to evacuate the cargo train which is not only risky to the technicians due to its heaviness but passengers.
“Imagine in this century, Nigeria is using jack to evacuate heavy duty trains like this instead of having a crane to do the job. What if the train, which is about to fall off, falls on any of the mechanics or engineers, or even the passengers?” he asked.
Meanwhile, the majority of the passengers who are returning to their base after the Christmas and New Year holidays condemned the pace of the evacuation while some of the passengers decried what they termed lack of commitment on the federal government in bringing rail transportation to proper functioning.
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