By Abuja, Nigeria
Hundreds of passengers were on Monday morning left stranded after an Abuja-bound train from Kaduna collided with another train along the busy Abuja–Kaduna rail corridor, forcing an immediate suspension of operations along the route.
The incident occurred during the peak early morning commute and has raised fresh concerns about safety protocols on one of Nigeria’s busiest railway routes.
Passengers on board said the train departed Kaduna as scheduled but later encountered another train on the same track. Details of whether the second train was stationary or moving remain unclear as at the time of filing this report.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation has yet to release an official statement or casualty figures. However, preliminary reports from the scene suggest that while the collision caused significant damage to the locomotive heads, there were no immediate reports of fatalities.
Emergency responders and security personnel have been were deployed to the scene to assist passengers and secure the area. The incident has also triggered questions about the railway’s digital signaling system, which is designed to prevent two trains from occupying the same track block simultaneously.
Experts say such collisions could result from a communication breakdown between train drivers and the control centre or a malfunction in the automated signaling system. Authorities are expected to launch an investigation into the cause of the collision.
AfrikTimes is closely monitoring the situation and will give further details of the situation on the rail corridor.
