The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has averted a potential train accident along the Warri-Itakpe railway corridor following the quick mobilisation of staff to fix 250 kilometres of tracks and bolts/clips removed by hoodlums.
Managing director of the Corporation, Dr. Kayode Opeifa who made this known, said the quick alert raised by the Agbarho vigilante community of Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State necessitated the immediate mobilisation of staff to repair the vandalised section before allowing the Warri-Itakpe passenger train to operate on Monday morning.
He noted that, the repair work carried out at the Agbarho-Okpara section caused delay of the WITS 01 of May 12, 2025 for 40 minutes before departure.
The NRC boss explained further that, “Following a report from the community vigilante group of track vandalism at Agbarho Community, Ughelli North LGA of Delta State, the railway track and safety officers were quickly dispatched early this morning to verify the report and do the needful for safe passage of the train
“Arriving at the site, the men discovered that from km 250 Agbarho – Okpara Section had been vandalized and the hold down bolts and clips made away with by the hoodlums.
“The Railway crew promptly replaced all that were vandalized and the track has been confirmed safe for the passage of trains and because of that unfortunate incident, WITS 01 of May 12, 2025 experienced a 40 minutes delay in departure.”
In another sad development, in the Eastern District of the Corporation, following a reported case of vandalisation by PTO (HO) of two spans on bridge No.24 at KM284 (Oghaho section) Nkanu East LGA, Enugu State, Eastern District, a team of Railway Policemen and engineering crew were despatched from Enugu to the site on an assessment and security watch.
The managing director stated that, on getting to the site, NRC officials discovered that a whole length of (Bridge 24) heavy frames were cut into pieces by the criminals, using oxygen and acetylene.
He pointed out that, while the vandals had fled, the long spans bridge beams were met on ground and efforts are being made to recover them.
While commending the effort of the security agencies so far in stopping this economic sabotage, Opeifa encouraged them to redouble efforts as his administration is ever ready to support them in dealing with the challenging task of securing railway facilities across the country.
He specifically thanked the Agbarho Community Vigilante Group for having an eye on the NRC track adding that other communities to emulate the Agbarho Community Vigilante and begin to own Railway facilities in their communities as they are national assets.