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Findings have revealed that thousands of passengers were on Thursday morning stranded in the middle of nowhere over shortage of diesel on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail. This is even as it took the NRC about two hours to restart the locomotive engine after the diesel supply was brought in from somewhere in Ogun State.
According to findings, the standard gauge train which departed Ibadan around 8 am suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere due to shortage of diesel in the locomotive tank.
Speaking with Tribune Online, a passenger onboard the train who wouldn’t want her name in print explained that many passengers were initially gripped by fear when the train suddenly stopped working.
According to the passenger, “We had left Ibadan for Lagos in the morning and were hoping to get to Lagos before 10 am, only for the train to stop in the middle of nowhere.
“When the train refused to restart after ten minutes, most of us (passengers) became jittery. We had heard of news of unknown person’s attacking the Lagos-Ibadan trains in recent times by removing some of the track components. So, many of us initially thought we were under attack.
“After about 45 minutes, the NRC officials onboard the trains told some of us that it wasn’t a case of attack but that the train stopped due to shortage of diesel. We waited for close to an hour before diesel was brought in from one of the NRC stations nearby.
“It wasn’t a funny experience as many of us (passengers) were apprehensive due to stories of attacks on the Lagos-Ibadan and Kaduna-Abuja standard gauge trains.
“After we got diesel, the train continued its journey to Lagos from Ibadan.”
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Confirming the development to the Nigerian Tribune, the Lagos District Manager of the NRC, Engineer Jerry Oche explained that the train stopped due to shortage of diesel.
“The standard gauge train from Ibadan to Lagos had fuel shortage this morning, but the situation was immediately resolved and the train continued its journey to Lagos,” Jerry Oche told Tribune Online exclusively.
Also speaking, a staff of the NRC revealed that due to scarcity of fuel in recent days, the standard gauge trains have not been getting adequate fuel supply.
“We have not been getting adequate fuel supply in recent days due to the scarcity of fuel in the country. Sometimes, we leave for Lagos or Ibadan with insufficient fuel supply with the hope of getting a refill along the way. “What happened this morning (Thursday morning) was not envisaged because the driver failed in estimating the amount of available diesel in the locomotive tank before departure from Ibadan.
“It was just unfortunate that the train stopped in the middle of nowhere due to diesel shortage. Since the fuel shortage issue started in Nigeria, we have been running our Lagos-Ibadan trips with insufficient fuel and have had to make do with refill along our trips most times,” the NRC staff said.
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