…Resumes Operations On Kaduna-Abuja Route
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, announced on Friday that the Abuja-Kaduna rail service would reopen today, Saturday, October 23, 2021, following the completion of track repairs after suspected bandits blew up parts of the rail track on Wednesday.
During an assessment of the repair work at the explosion site, the Minister also revealed that the Federal Government has stepped up its efforts to apprehend the culprits of the heinous crime.
According to him, the Ministry is in discussions with the Department of State Services (DSS), the Chief of Army Staff, the Police, and other security authorities to guarantee that the bandits are apprehended.
He said; “The government is already working to apprehend the bandits. When I get to Abuja tomorrow, I will see the DG SS and the Chief of Army Staff. We eill find the people.
“The repair work is completed. What is significant is that the repair was done by our Nigerian engineers and completed in record time.
“They moved in today and finished today and by tomorrow, we expect that the first train will run by tomorrow.
“What this has done to us is that it will fasten the procurement process of the digital sustem that we want to put in place.
“It had gone to cabinet two weeks ago and it was returned, so we will represent tit to cabinet to ensure that we get approval so that we can install digital security network.
“The essence of the digital secutity system is to enable us when there is an impact on the rail. There is a sensor, when people cross the rail or do anything, we will be able to know and we will be able to forestall this kind of attack”.
He continued; “We will get the Police to be involved so that they will be here before we install the digital security system.
“I am happy that our people fixed it. I am not happy that the security breach took place but what it has done is that it has shown that we actually have the capacity to fix our rail. The essence of this is to make sure that by the time you leave, we should start gradual process of constructing our rail. However, the lady engineer was able to fix it, she and her colleagues will be able to do more like track laying and poseinly track construction but we have to test them gradually.
“I had to come here physically today to ascertain the damage. We want to assure the public that beyond the physical presence of police and deployment of military along this track, i have just told the MD NRC to get us a rail bus that will be on patrol regularly on the track so that we can see what is happening even before the train takes off.
“That will be the measire we will putnin place before before the digital system is installed. The system will let us know anytime there is breach in security or anything and we will respond before rhe train comes and we may stop the train before coming and it will be end to end.
“It will be deployed on Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan corridor” he stated .
