The Federal Government has assured the passengers of Warri-Itakpe train service of their safety as it resumes operation on the route on Monday.
The assurance came after a train accident that on Thursday at the Major Gen. David Ejor rail station.
The Minister of Transportation, Senator Ahmed Alkali gave the assurance on Sunday during an inspection to the Agbor-Abraka rail station.
The minister represented by the acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry Mr Pius Oteh, said their first observation was to see that the track has been fixed.
He said, “Our first observation is to see that normalcy has been restored. We are here in the directive of Minister who is concerned when the accident happened on Thursday night.
“The NRC is the operator of all our rail services and we are aware that they have already begin to take preliminary steps to ascertain what happened and ensure everybody was safe and conduct further investigation. “As supervisory ministry of NRC also find the need to have a first assessment of the situation.
“You know that Warri-Itakpe railway is a critical component of our National railway infrastructure. We are happy to be here and express Minister concerned.
“We are happy that the incident did not led to any casualty, it an operational issue and we are happy to see that NRC has used their internal resource to fix the track.
“By tomorrow Monday, the train will resume its operation. We thanked God that the accident did not claimed any life.”
While commending the Nigeria Railway Corperation for efficient and effective service over the years, the minister disclosed that to run two sessions daily is on course.
On the issue of kidnapping around railway, the Minister said that security agencies are working very well to address the trend.
He assured safety of the public and encouraging them to continue using the train, noting that efforts are ongoing to entend the railway line to Abuja.
Also speaking during the inspection, the Managing Director NRC, Mr Freeborn Okhiria, appealed to the people of Delta State to own railway facilities in a bid to keep them safe, asserting that the facilities did not belong to Mr President nor the Minister.
He said that all the things happening here were man made issue, noting that NRC was trying to expand the number of coaches as the time of operation has been limited due security issue.
