The management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced the derailment of the Warri-Itakpe train in southern Nigeria, which immediately halted rail services along the corridor.
According to the statement by the NRC on Sunday, the incident occurred exactly four days after service resumed on the same route.
It will be recalled that before the unfortunate Kaduna-Abuja accident on August 26, the NRC had suspended the Warri-Itakpe train service since August 2 due to a series of breakdowns and other technical glitches.
The Warri-Itakpe train is currently the longest of the three modern trains (the two other modern trains are Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna) with about 350km.
After its resumption was announced for Wednesday, the corporation also announced the suspension of services on the same route over a fresh derailment barely four days later.
The statement, signed personally by the Managing Director of the NRC, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, noted that the train derailment which occurred at exactly 7:30 pm on Saturday involved two out of the seven coaches of the train at Kilometre 212+8m, Agbor.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the incident may have been caused by suspected track vandalism.
“We are pleased to confirm that all passengers on board were safely evacuated to Agbor, and everyone has been fully accounted for. No casualties or injuries were recorded.
“Our recovery team, supported by security personnel, has been at the site since last night, carrying out recovery operations. These efforts are progressing steadily and are expected to be completed soon,” Opeifa said.
He, however, announced that “as a precautionary measure, train services on the corridor have been temporarily suspended today to enable a comprehensive security and safety audit of the track and related infrastructure”.
“We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause our valued passengers and the general public. Normal operations will resume as soon as it is verified safe to do so,” he added.
According to the data from the Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, over 188 rail-related incidents have been recorded between 2020 and 2025, many of which are directly linked to vandalism by scavengers and organised criminal syndicates.
GIK/APA