Over nine hundred passengers aboard a 10-coach Iddo bound train escaped death on Friday [Aug 31] morning when the train rammed into a trailer truck at Ilupeju Railway Crossing near Oshodi, Lagos.
The accident which occurred at about 7:30 a.m. led to traffic gridlock along the Ilupeju/Oshodi road for several hours. Confirming the accident, Ademuyiwa Adekanbi, the Lagos District Public Relations Officer of the Railways, said that no life was lost in the incident.
Adekanbi said that the corporation has embarked on enough enlightenment campaigns on the use of the Railway Crossings. "We have done enough jingles on radio and television, we have rallies and distributed fliers to sensitise people of the right of way of a train at level crossings", he said.
Each of the coaches on the train has 90 seats which are usually overloaded.
An eye witness told newsmen that the articulated vehicle blocked the railway crossing when the train was already close by. The loaded trailer had crashed into the double barriers on the railway crossing shortly before the train arrived.
On seeing the approaching train, the driver jumped out of the trailer and ran away. The train then dragged the truck for some distance, scattering the goods inside it. The dragging of the truck also led to the damaging of some vehicles parked along the rail track by motor mechanics.
It was gathered that the accident caused some damage to the engine of the locomotive and the track. The incident makes it the third time in August 2012 that passengers' train would ram into vehicles at railway crossing in Lagos Metropolis.
The earlier two accidents occurred at the Ikeja railway crossing, and claimed some lives.
Daily Times
