By Ameh Gabriel
A passenger train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna derailed on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, causing panic among commuters and reigniting safety concerns on Nigeria’s busiest rail corridor.
The incident, which occurred shortly after the train departed the Idu station in Abuja around 11 a.m., left several carriages overturned. Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with terrified passengers scrambling to escape through broken windows and emergency exits.
According to reports, emergency response teams, including officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and security operatives, rushed to the scene to evacuate stranded passengers. While the full extent of casualties is yet to be confirmed, preliminary information suggests that some passengers sustained minor injuries, with no fatalities officially reported at the time of filing this report.
One passenger, visibly shaken, told journalists: “We were just moving when suddenly there was a loud sound, and the train started swaying. Before we knew it, the coaches had gone off the tracks. People were screaming, children were crying. It was terrifying.”
The Abuja–Kaduna rail line, inaugurated in 2016, has been a crucial alternative to the dangerous Abuja–Kaduna highway, which has long been plagued by banditry and kidnappings. However, the line has also faced repeated challenges, including the March 2022 terrorist attack that left several passengers dead and many abducted, as well as recurring complaints about poor maintenance.
Today’s derailment is expected to reignite debates around the safety and reliability of Nigeria’s rail infrastructure. Analysts say that unless urgent measures are taken to improve track maintenance, signaling systems, and emergency preparedness, confidence in rail travel could be severely undermined.
As of press time, NRC officials had not released an official statement, but sources say an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the derailment.
Security around the area has since been tightened, with military personnel and police officers deployed to prevent any opportunistic attacks, given the corridor’s history of insecurity.
The development has left many Nigerians anxious. A social media user who shared a video from the scene wrote: “We escaped death by God’s mercy. Government must do better. We can’t continue risking our lives on every journey.”
