Nigeria’s aviation and transport safety investigators have blamed neglected infrastructure and weak operations for last month’s derailment on the Abuja-Kaduna line, challenging the railway authority’s earlier claims that driver error and speeding were to blame.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), in a preliminary report released on Wednesday, said the accident on 26 August injured 21 passengers — one more than initially reported — but caused no fatalities. Train AK1, powered by locomotive CDD5c2 2701, derailed at Asham station after passing over a broken point clip and an unserviceable automatic switch mechanism.
The bureau found that railway staff were forced to manually lock the faulty switch, a risky practice that triggered the derailment. Several carriages overturned, damaging hundreds of sleepers and track fasteners, and leaving passengers scrambling in panic, with some initially fearing a terrorist attack.
The findings contrast sharply with the Nigeria Railway Corporation’s (NRC) first statement, which pinned the blame on human error and misuse of the emergency brake. Instead, investigators described a culture of neglect and piecemeal fixes. A derailment had already occurred at the same location 13 months earlier, but officials merely patched damaged sleepers rather than replacing them.
“The occurrence was the second derailment at Asham Station within 13 months,” the report noted. “Some sleepers damaged in the previous incident were only patched, rather than being properly replaced.”
Beyond track failures, the NSIB highlighted weak training and a lack of basic operational tools. NRC personnel had received only initial instruction, with no formal refresher courses. Spare parts, CCTV cameras, clocks and communications equipment were either unavailable or out of service, leaving staff ill-prepared to manage risk.
The bureau issued urgent safety recommendations, including the full replacement of damaged sleepers and point switches with original equipment, repairs across all caution zones on the corridor, refresher training for staff, and the restoration of monitoring and signalling systems to manufacturer standards.
Bimbo Oladeji, NSIB’s spokesperson, stressed that the findings were preliminary. “The final report will present detailed conclusions and additional recommendations to enhance rail safety in Nigeria,” he said.
The Abuja-Kaduna line, once hailed as a flagship of Nigeria’s rail revival, has suffered repeated crises — from terrorist attacks to vandalism. The latest derailment has revived public doubts about whether the NRC can deliver safe and reliable services.
Analysts warn that without urgent reforms, confidence in the country’s rail ambitions will collapse. “A dead asset is not just about trains sitting idle,” one transport expert noted. “It’s about lives being put at risk every time the system fails.”
The NSIB’s final report, due in the coming months, is expected to provide more comprehensive guidance on bringing Nigeria’s rail safety up to international standards.
