The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has confirmed that 26 passengers and crew members sustained varying degrees of injuries following a train incident along the Abuja–Kaduna rail corridor.
The Managing Director of the NRC, Kayode Opeifa, disclosed this in a statement shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, noting that the incident occurred near Asham Station after a loud bang was heard during the journey.
According to Opeifa, the Kaduna–Abuja service (KA-2) departed Rigassa Station and arrived at Jere Station one minute ahead of schedule before the disruption.
“The train departed Jere six minutes behind schedule due to the coupling of locomotive 2809 to the rake to create more resilience,” he said.
He explained that the incident happened between kilometre points 50 and 51 as the train approached Asham Station.
“A loud bang was heard as the power car and trailing locomotive collided with one of the coaches. Preliminary reports suggest an issue with one or more couplers,” Opeifa said.
“None of the coaches derailed, and the reason for the possible decoupling is yet to be ascertained.”
The NRC boss added that the affected components — locomotive 2809, power car BVA0002, and passenger coach SP0006 — were detached following the incident.
Despite the disruption, the train resumed movement, stopping at Kubwa before arriving at its final destination, Idu Station, with a total delay of 38 minutes.
Providing a breakdown of those onboard, Opeifa said the train carried 481 persons, including 429 passengers out of 459 booked seats. Others included 10 crew members, 26 security personnel, six food vendors, eight cleaners, and two third-party operators.
“A total of 26 people with varying degrees of injuries were recorded among the passengers, medical crew, cleaners and security personnel attached to the service,” he added.
On service recovery, Opeifa noted that operations resumed later in the day, with the Abuja–Kaduna train service commencing the AK1 trip from Idu to Rigassa as scheduled.
He further confirmed that he and other NRC officials were onboard the resumed service, which successfully completed a return trip from Rigassa to Kubwa.
