The Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, on Thursday warned Lagos residents against trading on rail tracks to avoid being crushed by trains.
Jerry Oche, the NRC Lagos District Manager, gave the warning in an interview with newsmen on the continued accidents on rail tracks in Lagos.
Mr Oche said that trading or hawking on rail tracks was dangerous and suicidal, adding that the lines were not meant for such activities.
He appealed to the people to stay away from railway tracks due as it is fatal to do so.
“Trading and hawking on the rail tracks is like a suicide mission.
“Don’t use rail track as a footpath or shortcut because that’s not what it is meant for,” he said.
According to him, after applying the brake, it takes a train 0.8 kilometres to finally stop.
“If the train is fully loaded it takes longer and we have to consider the passengers and if the driver applies emergency brake it will take three seconds to stop which attracts skidding that may lead to derailment,” Mr Oche said.
The district manager said that there were rules guiding railway operations, saying that if a train killed somebody, it was mandatory for the family to pay before the corpse would be released to them.
He said that the corporation was only releasing the bodies of those killed by trains to their family on humanitarian ground.
“There is nobody leaving around railway corridors that will tell you he is not aware of many activities on rail lines nowadays unlike years back.
“On Apapa alone, we operate more than 10 trips a day due to onging container haulage.
“Movement of empty and loaded containers have created lots of activities on the rail tracks, so hawkers and traders should stay away from the tracks,” the district manager warned.
Recall that a National Youth Service Corp member was on Thursday, March 8, crushed by a train along Ikeja-along railway corridor.
She was said to have resisted attempts to stop her from dashing across the rail line as the train approached.
NAN
