Train movement on the Lagos-Ibadan Railway section has on Saturday been forced to stop temporarily, due to the alleged removal of some components on the railway track by some vandals.
Passengers aboard the train which departed the Obafemi Awolowo Train Station in Ibadan at 8:30am on Saturday, were said to have been forced to stop somewhere before Funmilayo Ransom Kuti at the Papalanto area.
Meanwhile, a passenger, who is a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Dr. Feyi Leo, told the newsmen that fear gripped her and other passengers when the train was forced to stop.
According to her, the train coming from Lagos to Ibadan was also forced to stop in the opposite direction and the two trains continued the journey after the damaged section had been fixed.
In her words: “The trip was smooth and we had gone past the station at Abeokuta and moving towards Papalanto when the train stopped and it reversed some few meters.
“We were agitated and started asking questions. An announcement was made by the NRC official on board that their technicians were fixing a fault on the track and that it would not take long.
“True to their word, we left after 20 minutes of stoppage. But I was afraid while the whole thing lasted because of the materials on my laptop. There is no backup and it would have been a huge loss if anything had happened to my laptop”, she stated.
Another passenger, who identified himself as Promise said the temporary stoppage caused panic on board the train but there were armed security agents on board together with the technicians who fixed the damaged track.
It was however gathered that a similar incident happened two times in January and the trains were forced to stop for about 35 minutes, before they continued with the journey.