The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has confirmed that 26 passengers and crew members sustained varying degrees of injuries following a train incident along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor on Monday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Managing Director of the NRC, Kayode Opeifa, said the incident occurred at about 9:16 a.m. near Asham Station after a loud bang was heard within the train formation.

According to Opeifa, the Kaduna–Abuja service (KA-2) departed Rigassa Station at 7:15 a.m. and arrived at Jere Station at 8:52 a.m., one minute ahead of schedule.

“The train departed Jere at 8:59 a.m., six minutes behind schedule due to the coupling of locomotive 2809 to the rake to create more resilience,” he said.

He explained that the incident occurred between kilometre points 50 and 51 as the train approached Asham Station.

“At about 9:16 a.m., a loud bang was heard as the power car and trailing locomotive collided with one of the coaches. Preliminary reports suggest an issue with one or more couplers.

“None of the coaches derailed, and the reason for the possible decoupling is yet to be ascertained,” he added.

The NRC boss noted that the affected components-locomotive 2809, power car BVA0002, and passenger coach SP0006-were subsequently detached.

Despite the incident, the train resumed movement at 9:42 a.m., arriving Kubwa at 10:10 a.m. and terminating at Idu Station at 10:39 a.m., recording a total delay of 38 minutes.

Providing further details, Opeifa disclosed that 481 individuals were on board, including 429 passengers out of 459 booked. Others included 10 crew members, 26 security personnel, six food vendors, eight cleaners, and two third-party operators.

“A total of 26 people with varying degrees of injuries were recorded among the passengers, medical crew, cleaners and security personnel attached to the service,” he said.

On service recovery, he stated that operations resumed later in the day. The Abuja–Kaduna service (AK1) departed Idu for Rigassa at 2:48 p.m., behind its scheduled 11:00 a.m. departure.

The train arrived Rigassa at 5:33 p.m., with Opeifa and other NRC officials on board. A return trip departed Rigassa at 6:12 p.m., reaching Kubwa at 8:31 p.m. and Idu at 8:58 p.m.