00:00Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC says it has directed the third-party ticketing company to refund the money paid by all 583 passengers on board the Abuja-Kaduna train that derailed at Asham Community in Kaduna State on Tuesday, saying, although no death casualty was recorded but four out of the seven persons that sustained injuries were serious while two of them were discharged immediately at the hospital.
00:26NRC in a statement on Tuesday, said, following the derailment of the Kaduna-bound Abuja-Kaduna train service earlier today at Asham, Kaduna State, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, wishes to provide an update on the situation.
00:43A total of 618 persons comprising 583 passengers, 15 NRC crew members, one medical personnel, eight cleaners, and 11 catering staff were successfully evacuated from the train.
00:59Out of this number, seven passengers sustained varying degrees of injury and were immediately transported by ambulances to hospital facilities by medical personnel mobilized to the site.
01:09The remaining passengers were conveyed safely back to Idu and Kubwa stations aboard a rescue train dispatched from Idu for that purpose.
01:19All have since returned safely to their destinations.
01:22In line with our commitment to passenger welfare, our third-party ticketing company has been directed to immediately issue refunds to all passengers on board the affected service.
01:32Furthermore, the process of investigation into the incident has commenced, under the supervision of relevant authorities and the Federal Ministry of Transportation.
01:43Meanwhile, all Abuja-Kaduna train services, AKTS, have been temporarily suspended, pending recovery of the site, further clearance, and official announcement of service resumption.
01:55We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and thank our esteemed passengers and the general public for their understanding, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC stated in a press release signed by its managing director, Kiyode Opefa.
02:10NRC had earlier in a statement on Tuesday said that the train derailed around 11 a.m. at Asham Community in Kaduna State.
02:19Videos made available online by victims of the train accident indicated that some of the train coaches overturned as passengers and crew members on board stood at the hilling part of the bush waiting for rescue.
02:31Close observers said that the latest train accident adds to the troubled history of the Kaduna-Abuja rail line, which has experienced several incidents in recent years, including the deadly bandits' attack in March 2022 that led to the killing of some of the passengers on board the train with many of them also kidnapped and held hostage for months till ransom was paid.
02:53The latest derailment comes just a week after the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, reported another fault on the same corridor, when one of the train's coach wheels developed a hot axle near Rigasa station in Kaduna.
03:08The NRC explained that the fault, caused by excessive heat, was quickly managed and the train was returned safely to Kaduna.
03:16In a statement issued on August 21, 2025, the NRC had said, the Nigerian Railway Corporation has confirmed that one of the coaches' wheel on the Abuja-Kaduna train service, AKTS, experienced hot axle some kilometers to Rigasa station in Kaduna.
03:35The incident, which happened on Wednesday evening is due to hot wheels friction as a result of abnormal temperature due to excessive heat on the journal housing.
03:44However, the situation was immediately brought under control and the train marshaled to Kaduna and to safety.
03:52Consequent upon this incident, the train service will experience some capacity issues, which may affect some customers booked on the business class.
04:01Passengers who were booked on the affected coach for Thursday, have all been contacted through the details they provided online.
04:09We have also made alternative arrangements to accommodate them.
04:13The management is working to ensure the disruption is minimal and that normal service would resume before the afternoon services.
04:21We assure all our customers and passengers of their safety on our train services as we are determined to continue to provide the best travel experience on all our train networks.
04:31We apologize and regret all the inconvenience, NRC stated in a statement signed and made available by Chief Public Relations Officer of the Railway Corporation, Kalistis Unimadu.
04:43Punch newspaper reported on Wednesday that while the managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Kiyode Opefa was speaking during an appearance on Channel's television's The Morning Brief, Opefa assured Nigerians that the ongoing investigation into the incident would be thorough and transparent.
05:01Beyond apologizing to Nigerians, I want to state clearly, as the managing director and chief executive, I take full responsibility.
05:11When it comes to safety, there is no room for indifference.
05:15Once something like this happens, the chief executive must own it, and I do, he said.
05:22The MD said the injuries of four of the Abuja Kaduna train passengers were serious.
05:27Our paper stated, coming to the fatality and the casualties, there was no fatality.
05:33We thank God, that was a near miss because for this kind of accident or incident, you see some level of fatality, but we thank God for this.
05:42And for those who were injured, four are serious, and another two or so were discharged immediately, and we will follow up on those that might still be in the hospital.
05:51I don't know as of this moment, we'll follow up, so we'll also follow up with the remaining 618 people on the train because of the post-traumatic experience.
06:03We have the full contacts and we'll do that.
06:06He, however, said that though the incident should not have happened, the NRC would ensure that there was no recurrence.
06:12I want to assure Nigerians that an incident like this is not expected, is not prayed for, should not be happening, but where it does, it is to bring out the best in us.
06:24And I assure Nigerians that just as we are doing currently on the Warrior Takpe, which he, the analyst, also mentioned, we shut down the Warrior Takpe route, three weeks ago.
06:35I ordered the shutdown for safety reasons, and if you see the level of work the men have been doing on the track, cutting it off and replacing it is to make sure things like this don't happen, he added.
06:47Asked whether there was any suspicion around sabotage regarding the incident, Opefa said, it would be premature for me to speak on that because that will be undermining the authority that is meant to do the investigation.
07:00But I want to assure Nigerians that our tracks are safe from vandals and terrorists.
07:05This particular track is being monitored by the military, you can see that immediately it, the derailment, happened, within 5, 10 minutes, the helicopter was there hovering.
07:17The Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Army are all along this corridor, and I think, for the record, we've not had any issue of banditry, terrorism attack along that corridor.
07:28But you can't wish anything away, the investigation will tell us what happened, and I wouldn't want to comment because I'm a party to the investigation.
07:38The NRC chief executive said that NSIB would have to declare the site open for reconstruction before the corporation would do a safety audit to determine when services on the route would be reopened.
07:51The first thing that will happen is that the NSIB will determine when the site is open for reconstruction.
07:56So, from the time they tell us that it's ready for reconstruction, I don't see us spending more than 30 days.
08:05So it depends on when, they declare the site open for reconstruction, Opafer stated.
08:11The incident occurred on Tuesday along the Kaduna corridor shortly after the train left Abuja at about 11am, en route to Kaduna.
08:19A passenger on board the train described the scene as chaotic, with people scrambling to safety.
08:25Following the incident, the NRC suspended train operations on the Abuja-Kaduna route till further notice.
08:33Opafer had, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, hours after the incident, said that some technical staff of the corporation,
08:42alongside the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, and other relevant agencies,
08:49were on the ground at the train derailment site carrying out an investigation.
08:52He also dismissed claims that the trains were not in good condition and said the refund of the ticket fees had been initiated for all passengers on board.
09:03In January 2023, an Abuja-Kaduna train derailed in the Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, a few minutes from its destination, Kubwa.
09:14Forcers who are on level, bringing youth to news in the mortgage is aware.
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