LAGOS TRAIN-BUS COLLISION

“This life is not fair,” said a wailing woman, as victims of the recent tragic Lagos train-bus accident at the Public Works Department (PWD) Busstop along Agege Motor Road, Lagos, were moved to a triage at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

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It was a moment of pain and agony for the families of those who didn’t survive and 79 other victims who suffered severe injuries and had their plans either cut short or altered.

There is the 28-year-old Juliana Aina Oreoluwa, a youth corps member with Lagos State Ministry of Education, who was to finish her service in May 2023, who died with her dreams of pursuing her master’s degree abroad, while 59-year-old Ganiyat Salawudeen, who worked with the Ministry of Finance, the State Treasury Department, on her part would have retired in January 2024.

Lamenting his daughter’s demise, Femi Aina, father of Oreoluwa, said: “I used to tell her that she took the job like she was already a staff member of the state government. She was a very nice girl with visions and ambitions.

“She was preparing to go to the United Kingdom for her master’s programme after her youth service in May, but unfortunately, all her plans had been dashed.”

The incident occurred barely two months after residents of Chikakore, Byazhin, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), watched helplessly as an oncoming train crushed to death, a middle-aged woman, whose name was given as Hajia Selimat Idowu, along rail track.

The late Idowu, according to eyewitness account, was trying to cross the rail track, the only access road in and out of the community, when the accident occurred.

It was said that her vehicle got stuck and sadly, the train rammed into the car, killing her on the spot.

IN the last few years, it has been a catalogue of mishaps on rail tracks. After the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, an accident involving a moving train, a bus and a Toyota Sports Utility Van (SUV) happened near the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena in Oshodi.

In the SUV were a trader and his son, who parked beside the tracks, waiting to enter Oshodi Shopping Complex, Arena, for business.

Unknown to him, metres away from the parking spot, a train had collided with a bus and was dragging it along the tracks. Unfortunately, before the man could move his car to a safe distance, the train had hit it and carried it along the bus and SUV on the tracks before coming to a complete stop. The trader lost his life, and his son was seriously injured in the accident.

Also, on January 10, 2019, at the Ashade railway crossing around Agege-Ikeja, Lagos, a train skidded off its tracks, killing one person and leaving others injured. The railway corporation responded almost immediately to re-rail the train and repaired the track, but if regular maintenance had been carried out in the first place, that accident could have been avoided in the first place.

In March 2018, also around Ikeja, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Nneka Odili, on her way back from the Secretariat, lost her life in a train accident.

The young lady was walking on the rail track with her headphones plugged in and couldn’t hear the horns from the approaching train. She didn’t survive the injuries sustained in the accident.

WHILE it is worrisome that precious lives are being lost due to what experts term negligence on the part of those saddled with safety responsibilities, train accidents have raised the need for a complete overhaul of rail transportation in the country.

According to a 2023 survey by Statista.com, in 2018 alone, over 500 train accidents were recorded in the country. Of these numbers, loss of control/locomotive failure, accounted for 222 cases, detachment- 113, derailment-101, miscellaneous-36, wash out-32, collision-12, with broken rail/damage on track, accounting for seven cases.

Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Institute for Industrial Security and a security expert, Dr. Wilson Esangbedo, pointed to reasons such incidents occur despite warnings and caution signs displayed along rail tracks.

Sanwo-Olu visit

According to him, a change in value orientation is central to preventing these avoidable train mishaps. “We need to start changing our orientation to driving and understanding how the rail tracks work and know when a train is too close to a car on a rail track, there is a magnetic effect which affects the movement of the vehicle.

“The railway corporation needs to build proper demarcation to protect vehicles and pedestrians crossing the railway. There should be more publicity on safety precautions at the railway intersection.

“Government has not done enough and Nigerians should approach railway intersections with caution to remain safe,” Esangbedo said.

Former chairman of Apapa Branch of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ombugadu Maikasuwa Garba, said the recurring train accidents in Nigeria has proven that there is need for a state of emergency in the sector.

He said: “It is very worrisome that precious lives are lost owing to negligence of those saddled with such responsibilities.”

According to him, “train tracks should be routed away from human/vehicular interference to reduce accidents, especially in areas where human activities and vehicular crossing is frequent.”

He also said: “Train tracks should be properly barricaded to prevent unnecessary human and vehicular interaction. This will ensure restrictions of movement along the corridor.

“Further more, in the event of train tracks on roads, electrically controlled barriers manned by competent personnel should be installed appropriately to prevent the entry of humans and vehicles when a train is passing.

“It is the responsibility of NRC to ensure that the needful is done appropriately. The state ministry of transportation and states where they have State Safety Agencies (such as the Lagos State Safety Commission —- LASSCOM) and engineering bodies should be alive to their duties so as to ensure safety of life and property.”

Also, former National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Highways Transportation Engineers, Dayo Oluyemi, said ideally the intersection between a rail line and a roadway should be a grade-separated intersection.

“However, for economic reasons, we have them usually on same level in Nigeria. Drivers, who often are in a hurry to pass through the junction, usually cause the accidents. If our drivers are disciplined, we will not have these accidents.

“Auto controlled gates are required to be provided at sections where the roadway is intersecting a rail line at the same level,” he said.

For Ibrahim Aledu, a fellow of Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Apapa Inspectorate Chief of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and Engineering Regulation and Monitoring, the long neglect of the sector has made Nigerians forget the existence of rail transportation.

For the Chief Executive Officer Bethlehem Rail, London, Mr. Roland Ataguba, there is enough blame to go round, though it appeared that the bus driver was primarily at fault.

He pointed out that between Ebute Metta Junction and Agbado, there will be the Lagos-Ibadan standard Guage rail, Lagos-Kano NGR and the Red line LRMT.

“So, how can anyone fathom that level crossings could be appropriate in that corridor?” He wondered.

According to him, level crossings are an accident black spot and Lagos needs total grade separation and the right of way fenced all through otherwise, they should prepare for more of the same as traffic grows.

Ataguba said: “The strategic issues are that a private operator would think differently and act proactively to preempt and mitigate losses. Unfortunately, the sloppy civil service culture of the NRC ensures we are reactive, and no one is held accountable.”

Chief Executive Officer, West Atlantic Cold-Chain and Commodities Limited, Henrii Nwanguma, said since rail is still being reintroduced, provisions must be made for such, because elsewhere, more mature industry exists, there are still incidents and accidents.

Former Dean of the School of Transport and Logistics, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Samuel Odewumi, said there are normally different types of rail crossing barricades. It could be human, mechanical or electrical. The one in place at the time of the accident was human.

Late Oreoluwa

According to Odewumi, witnesses on site testified that there was a man waiving a red flag for vehicles to stop. While others obeyed, the bus driver refused and the train ran into it. From the railway authorities, there was a physical barrier, but was removed because of the ongoing construction work at the site. The construction is for total separation of rail and road by making an overpass for the road.

“We hope it will be a wakeup call, especially, since it occurred not so long after the fatal Abuja crossing accident. There must be reawakening from all the stakeholders. There must be continuous enlightenment and education. Let the media, especially radio and television, dedicate some air time for this,” he said.

On what plans Lagos State has to ensure that rail tracks are shielded from pedestrians, vehicles and other straying bodies to ensure safety of lives and property, the Managing Director and CEO of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mrs. Abimbola Akinajo, said from their Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP), they have six rail lines, and one monorail.

She said: “We are currently implementing two of the lines – Blue and Red. On the Blue Line (Marina to Okokomaiko), there will not be any interaction between train and vehicular traffic. From Orile to Okokomaiko, the train system will sit in the middle of the Lagos Badagry Expressway with no interaction at all with vehicular traffic. The entire corridor will also be fenced off with a palisade fence, made of steel pales, which are attached to horizontal rails connected to sturdy vertical joists or ‘posts’.

“On the Red line, we are sharing tracks with the Federal Government through the NRC. The NRC currently has fenced off the rail corridor. All authorised level crossings are to be closed and replaced with overpass bridges, or flyover to eliminate interaction between vehicular and train traffic. There are 10 authorised level crossings between Agbado and Oyingbo. They are at Jonathan Coker (Fagba), Pen Cinema, Asade, Ikeja, PWD, llupeju bypass. Ogunmokun (Mushin), Fadeyi, Yaba and Oyingbo.

“Lagos State was tasked to construct five and Federal Government to be responsible for the remaining five. Lagos State government has completed the Pen Cinema section with the construction of the Pen Cinema flyover bridge. The other four are located at Ikeja, Ogunmokun (Mushin). Yaba, and Oyingbo are at about 90-95per cent completion.

“The Federal Government is expected to begin the construction of its sections of four overpass bridges having completed the Asade flyover. The four are Jonathan Coker (Fagba), PWD, Ilupeju bypass and Fadeyi.

“However, we plan to work with the Federal Ministry of Transport through the NRC to put temporary barriers at level crossings, where construction of Overpass Bridge is yet to start when we commence operation shortly due to the fact that rail traffic will increase along the corridor.”

Speaking with The Guardian, Managing Director, NRC, Fidelis Okhiria, cautioned motorists to be more careful, while driving on railroads.

Okhiria said modernisation has taken care of the barriers, adding that there should not be rail and road crossing. “We have about 11 overhead bridges that will turn from, and there will be an overpass. There is going to be an overhead bridge at the PWD crossing.”

He said: “You can see that government is putting barriers first, but because there is what we call the level crossing, which at the time the government has developed a policy on modernisation, we had to have separate grades.

The late Salawudeen

“I mean the road and rail will somehow not cross their path. That is what you see at Agege, after Agege, you see the underpass coming from Guinness, same thing you can see construction going on in Oyingbo and Yaba trying to separate the road, but it’s going to be at Jibowu, we cannot do all at the same time not to cause too much traffic jam. However, before this is done, what we have resorted to is a little bit of using communication and human.

“When a train leaves the next station, we inform all the level crossing keepers who happen to man where the road and rail intersect. By doing so, they inform the men there and before the train gets there, they will ensure the road is clear from the rail, and that is what happened that fateful day. All the road vehicles had been stopped, but this bus came from nowhere and the train came and there was a collision.

A crushed vehicle in Kubwa

“Five years back, we developed light and alarm so that when the train is getting close by, an alarm will be raised. This was also vandalised. We did that four times consecutively but were still vandalised. So we now have phones to communicate and make sure that our men are there at the level crossing.

“What people don’t know is that it is not the responsibility of the rail to keep the level crossing, by international standards the rail always have the right of way because it is a permanent way, everybody is expected to know that there is a rail track there and train don’t shift position unlike the road that you turn the steering you don’t have a steering that you turn on the rail, it is the tracks that directs the rail.”

Speaking on why the country is lagging in terms of attaining respectable global standards in rail service, he said: “It is just the level that we have found ourselves. All these things happen in America. Even in India, it is still happening, and China is happening. All we have to do is to change our attitudes and our ways.”