TRAVELOGUE:  Bandits Endanger Abuja -Kaduna Train But Passengers Happy To Ride

Over 100 passengers were at the Kubwa Train Station in Abuja waiting to board the 10:10 a.m. train to Kaduna State on August 24. They included men, women, and children who hung around the departure area in anticipation of the train’s arrival.

At 10:35 am when the train arrived at the Kubwa substation from Idu where it took off, passengers, including this reporter, rushed to find their coaches and seats. The train has VIP, Business, and Economy coaches and the passengers locate the seats on their tickets.

As I entered my coach, one of the economy coaches, I saw families bantering with one another while others simply sat in their seats relaxed.

I did not see desperate faces or tensed passengers thinking about their safety. A few days or weeks back, the Department of State Services (DSS), issued an alert to the Nigeria Railway Corporation on possible terrorist attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna train route.

But passengers on the train looked unbothered and appeared to feel safe. While some parents chat with their children, some bury their heads in their personal computers or phones connected to the train’s sockets.

As the train roared out of Kubwa en route to Kaduna, a female voice rang out of the train’s public address system saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of Nigeria Railway Corporation, we welcome you on board the AK1 Kaduna-Abuja train. The estimated time of travel is 2:30 minutes taking off from Kubwa station to Rigasa.

“Be rest assured that all has been done to ensure your safety is secured on board this train. We also wish to remind our passengers that there are medical personnel on board. In case of any emergency please contact any NRC official for assistance…”

It was my second time on the train in the last nine months, and my mind replayed the terrorist attack on a Kaduna-bound train on March 28, 2022. Terrorists had derailed the train with explosive devices leading to the death of at least eight passengers while 60 others were abducted.

I replayed the videos of the attack in my mind and kept thinking about the August 11, leaked DSS memo warning the NRC of a possible attack by a ”coalition of bandits.”

While the train meandered its way through the lonely tracks, I also watched out for the security measures recommended by the DSS to avoid or contain terrorist attacks.

The ambiance was calm and passengers barely looked through the windows. Fear of terrorists was not palpable, if any.

I saw passengers walk freely from coach to coach as I also strolled along the aisle to see how passengers were faring. Some walked to the train’s canteen to find something to eat or drink, especially for their kids.

Many of my fellow passengers were having fun on the train and were probably not as paranoid as I was about the likelihood of any attack on the train. Perhaps, part of this was due to the generous presence of well-kitted police officers and operatives of the Joint Task Force on the coaches.

The operatives moved around with their walkie-talkies, looking vigilantly for the slightest appearance of security threats. As security personnel scanned the train environment for possible danger signals, NRC officials were also busy doing their own checks, strolling into coaches randomly and checking on passengers.

I watched out for military and police checkpoints and patrol along the railway tracks to see if the NRC took the advice of the DSS to establish such checks at terrorists’ hotspots.

After nearly two hours on the train, I saw two separate military formations at suspected bandits’ hotspots (names withheld), but most passengers barely showed any interest.

At the first military spot, soldiers were seen in their numbers surveying the area as they jogged in random circles. As the train passed, the soldiers waved back at the police officers and NRC staff, wishing them a safe trip ahead.

The NRC Coordinating Officer on the train told me upon inquiry “The Soldiers are part of us. They are strategically positioned to either be seen in some areas or hidden in other areas.”

At the second military location, the train stopped for about 10 minutes for unannounced reasons, generating unease among the passengers for the first time during the trip. No one could tell why there was a halt.

The senior NRC staff again told me that the stop was not security-related but a signal from the train station in Rigasa, which was 20 minutes away at the time.

The situation was subsequently resolved and there was palpable relief among passengers.

The NRC staff said many passengers had told him they couldn’t believe it when they saw the huge number of passengers at the Kubwa station waiting for the train to Kaduna.

“Many people are no longer worried about security on the train as it was the case in the past because security has been very steady,” he said, adding “This is why I walk around to try and perceive people’s behaviour throughout the journey and there has been no problem at all. I hope it continues this way.”

Indeed, many travellers have opted for train services despite intermittent security threats along the Abuja-Kaduna railway. THE WHISTLER had visited motor parks in Jabi and Zuba before embarking on the train trip and found a drastic decline in patronage as many drivers blamed the situation on the fuel hike and the comfort provided by the train.

A regular train ticket is also cheaper at N3600 while Kaduna motorists charge N6,5000 — The price of a VIP ticket for train service.

After nearly two and half hour ride, the train finally arrived at Rigasa terminus at 12:55 pm. But there were no signs of relief by many of the passengers; it was just a normal arrival. Everyone calmly retrieved their luggage and headed for the train’s exits.

“It was good. We can only hope on God even when there are visible security men around. But I was hopeful that Kaduna would see us in good fate. At least I am on the train with children, that is hope,” a female passenger told me as she walked her two girls through the aisle to the exist door.

Welcome to Kaduna!

My return trip was a similar experience of calm and passengers including this reporterr, could only look forward to the end.

After the terror attack of last year, the NRC operates only four trips daily – two trains to Abuja and two trains to Kaduna. The corporation said it “pays special premium attention to the safety and security” of passengers, by taking measures that include limiting the number of daily trips from 10 to four.

Paschal Nnoli, Regional Manager of Abuja-Kaduna railway, who spoke to THE WHISTLER on security along the railway lines, said the NRC is battling vandalism across the nation’s railway track assets.

He said what will ordinarily take the train less than two hours to Kaduna has been extended to about three hours because train drivers go at a slower pace to avert dangers on the rail track caused by vandals.

“Signals are been vandalized nationwide by Nigerians and these things exist in communities. For the past months, about 90 per cent of what I do revolved around security.

“Two weeks ago, the police in Rigasa arrested people with clips holding the tracks, and If you remove them in succession for a long time, it could lead to derailment and people would die,” he said.

Nnoli noted that although personnel of the NRC constantly patrol and monitor the rail tracks, the vandals never stopped even after they were arrested and convicted.

“They return to inflict harm on the communities that exposed them. To me the Federal government should be charging them for terrorism”.

When asked why there was no air surveillance patrol and a crisis response team as recommended by the DSS, Nnoli asked, “What do you do after an abnormality has been detected by the surveillance patrol? How do you respond swiftly without an adequate infrastructure for a rapid response?”

He also provided the answer saying, “If you are doing a railway line, there should be a parallel road constructed beside the rail track for a rapid response.

“The road should have at least a security observation spot and a joint task force on every 30 kilometers so that if anything happens, swiftly they will respond from either the North or South and this road should be dedicated for this.

“It gives me worry that as the manager of a new track, every morning you are faced with challenges of vandalism.”