KOREDE FOGO
One month after gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train, vehicles of abducted victims onboard the Ill-fated train are still at the station, unmoved.
It was gathered that since the attack, passengers’ cars have remained at the parking lot of the Idu train station.
According to a security man at the station’s motor park, the owner of one of the cars was confirmed dead by his family members who came to claim the car, but the other cars have yet to be claimed.
The car was later claimed by the brother of the deceased after the police at the train station confirmed this.
Some cars parked in the lot belonged to passengers who are not amongst those kidnapped.
However, Pascal Nnorli, in the train service, said the NRC is more concerned with persons who are in captivity than it is about cars. He added that the car park is, however, not their (NRC) property.
The shutdown of the station has caused a fall in the income of different groups who work there. But employees of the NRC continue to receive their salaries.
“Those who work at the motor park, people selling food, the potters, they are the ones directly affected by the situation,” it was learnt.
BUSINESSINSIDERNG, had in March 28th, 2020 reported that NRC suspended operation after bandits attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train.
In a message posted on its booking website, NRC, said it was suspending the service for the safety of travellers.
Terrorists, bombed and successfully immobilised the over 1,100-capacity train on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.
It was gathered that the terrorists planted explosives on the rail tracks and bombed the train just before Rijana, a community along the rail line in Kaduna notorious for kidnapping and other security breaches.
A source said the train, which left Abuja at about 6:10pm, was intercepted before Rijana, and that after the bomb was detonated, about 50 terrorists came out from the surrounding bushes and surrounded the train.
Our source also confirmed that the train almost somersaulted after the attack but came to a halt before the terrorists came out from the bush and started shoot sporadically, trying to gain entrance.
The source also said the train was about 16 coaches, with seven regular coaches carrying about 88 passengers on each coach, eight VIP coaches carrying about 56 passengers each and one executive (VVIP) coach.