The Nigeria Railway Corporation says it is ready to resume operations on the Abuja-Kaduna corridor.
The MD NRC Engr. Fidet Okhiria disclosed this after an inspection of the affected portion of the rail by the Minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi.
Speaking to journalists during the inspection, the minister who said the repair was done by our engineers in record time, gave assurance that the incident would speed up the process of acquiring digital security systems for the rail corridors
On security, What this has done to us is that It will fasten the procurement process of a digital security system that we want to put in place
It had gone to cabinet two weeks ago and it was returned so we will represent it to cabinet to ensure that we get approval , then we can install the digital security network.
The essence of the digital security system is to enable us know when there is an impact on the rail. It has a sensor, when people walk across the rail we will be able to know.”
Amaechi promised that security will however be beefed up with police before arrival of the equipment.
He expressed joy that the incidence has also confirmed the competence of Nigerian engineers in readiness for when the Chinese leave.
“On capacity of indigenes, what this has done is that It has shown that we actually have the capacity to fix our rail
The essence of this is to make sure that by the time you leave, we should start gradual process of constructing out own railway.
You can see the lady engineer, however she can be able to fix that, she and her colleagues will be able to do more kilometers of track laying and possibly track construction”
“We want to assure the public that beyond the physical presence of police and deployment of the military along this track, I just told the MD to get us a rail bus that will be on patrol regularly on the trail so that we can see what is going to happen even before the train takes off that will be the measure we will put in place until we put a digital system in place. And it will be end to end from Abuja-Kaduna and it will the same thing for Lagos-Ibadan”
The MD NRC on his part, said even the DSS are involved in ensuring security on the corridor. He said the frequency of trips on the route would increase as part of security measures.
“Is better to run more trains as running more trains would not give people the opportunity to tamper/interfere with the tracts, because a train just passed from Abuja to kaduna not quite 30mins when the explosion were executed and planted. And if we have all trains . The people would have to work very hard to be able to plant explosives. I believe that when we restart we would start with 8trips when we come back tomorrow maybe tomorrow we may run 4trips but Sunday 8trips because Sunday is a busy day. So tomorrow we are running four trips so that we can run from Abuja to kaduna and balance the train set while we are working on the loco that were affected “.
On the issue of network jamming/communication on the axis Okhiria said the situation necessitated pilot working.
“The train that the Maintenance staff brought to site occupy the site and whether you call them or not you have to see the train back to the station physically and we have a pilot man that would tell us that there is noting on the track again. He would be the person leading the driver.”
” Before now we would have had what we call detonators that would blast 3times. The first instance it would the at the first instance blast 3times that’s the driver would give you how many meters remaining, but sometimes in order to save the detonator, you pilot them that would see you to the point of accident. In railway there is what we call safety first. Whether we have communication or not, although there is no communication actually, like this is a dark spot you know there is no communication in kaduna area again. We would try and introduce what we had in warri itakpe, the satellite telephone so that we can communicate”.
The manager of the corridor,Mr Paschal Nnoli gave assurance that passengers would be able to reuse the tickets bought on the date of the incidence. He however said those who want a refund would get it, though a process online has to be followed.
Recall that bandits yesterday blew off a portion of the Abuja – Kaduna rail with explosives necessitating the suspension of services on the route.
On Rigassa and Warri- Itakpe security checks complain, we are employing the use of tickets so that you can only get to the trains with your tickets . We got the certificate for eticketing from ICRC yesterday and we are going to advertise and then we access and eventually when we get it that one would be addressed.
On means of transportation from the stations to the metropolis, we can’t be providing that, that is why we are hoping for PPP so that people can organise themselves and provide that service. The people can even come and key into our eticketing so that when the passengers come we use their bus and at the end of the day we do our calculations. We hope that people would key in like Itakpe Warri. So we have to make sure that the actual person who gets it can do it.
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