Abuja-Kaduna Train Begins Test-Running As Services Resume On Monday

The train passed on Saturday morning, through Kubwa, Abuja, and onward to Kaduna State on a test-running as full services finally resume Monday.

SaharaReporters observed the 12-coach train on Saturday morning around 10.30 am passing through the residential areas onward to Kaduna.

The Nigerian government also confirmed that the Abuja-Kaduna rail line would commence on Monday.

The spokesman for the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Yakub Mahmoud, disclosed this to Daily Trust.

He said ahead of the resumption on Monday, the NRC will release further details on the operations on Sunday to the general public.

Recall the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Mua’zu Jaji Sambo had announced the train service will resume this month.

He had also said the train service will resume only when adequate security had been put in place. Some of the new security measures he had said must be ready ahead of the resumption is the installation of real-time monitoring surveillance equipment on the corridor.

The service was suspended indefinitely after terrorists kidnapped passengers in March.

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government had said it would hand over train services hitherto managed by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to the private sector to engender efficiency and effectiveness in the running of the services.

The Minister of Transport, Muazu Sambo, who disclosed this when members of the NRC Governing Board paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, vowed that there was no going back on the decision.

Earlier, the chairman of the NRC board, Ibrahim Musa, informed the minister that due to the high cost of diesel, the cost of running the trains was so high, admitting that they were running at a loss.

He called on the minister to intervene as the railway service was one of the things the present administration prides itself of, especially the Lagos – Ibadan, Warri – Itakpe, and the Abuja-Kaduna railway lines.