Eight months after the suspension of train services on the Abuja-Kaduna rail services, the Federal Government has once again announced an extension of the resumption date for the rail services.
On Saturday, November 26, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Yakub Mahmoud, had assured that the train services on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line will commence on Monday, being November 28, 2022.
However, the expectations of commuters on that route, was dashed on Sunday by the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, who told journalists in Kaduna during an inspection tour to assess the state of readiness of the Abuja-Kaduna rail services that the due date was no longer feasible.
Sambo was specific on the date for the resumption of services but noted that it will not be more than a week.
Before the volte face, the minister had hinted that 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 installation of real-time monitoring surveillance equipment on the corridor.
Our correspondent cannot independently conform if the entire corridor has been fitted with surveillance equipment.
But speaking on Sunday, the minister said the FG has introduced a new system of purchasing tickets, which he said is the beginning of security checks which will enable the government to ascertain who boards the train at every point in time.
The Abuja-Kaduna train service was temporarily halted eight months ago when terrorists planted explosives that derailed the train AK-9 while on its last lap from Abuja to Kaduna.
The terrorist had killed nine and abducted over 60 passengers, all of whom have been released with some paying ransom running into hundreds of millions.
