Cause of the Train Accident in Lagos

What is the problem with train accidents this year? Just three months into the new year, some shocking train incidents have been recorded, from Europe to America to Africa.

On February 3, there was a train derailment in Ohio, Pennsylvania. 

Last week in Greece, 57 people died in what can be termed the country's worst train disaster when two trains collided in the city of Larissa. This week Tuesday, a passenger train derailment in Cairo, Egypt killed at least 2, injuring 16 others. As though those weren't enough.

Thursday this same week at about 7:15 am in Lagos, Nigeria, a fatal train-bus collision occurred at the level crossing in the Public Works Department (PWD) in Ikeja, Lagos killing at least six and leaving scores more injured. 

The BRT bus which was laden with majorly state workers on a trip from Ikotun to the state secretariat in Alausa got hit seriously by a train running from Ijoko to Iddo. What has caused all these train crashes?

Mostly, negligence to safety rules. By all observation, wrong judgment on the part of the BRT bus driver caused that particular incident in Sogunle, Ikeja, Nigeria. The findings by the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) seem to corroborate this position. 

The Viale BRT bus controller was seen beating traffic up to the level crossing. Instead of waiting for the fast-approaching train to pass, he attempted to negotiate a smart cross. One of the survivors of the accident, simply called Titilayo, revealed that they begged the driver of the bus to wait for the train to pass, but he refused. Some of the surviving passengers said he was hearing earpiece while driving.

But in any case, the railway operator ought to install bars on the rail crossing, which was not there when the accident happened. Also, there were no advanced warnings; maybe a loud horn, whenever a moving train approaches the intersection point.

Railway operations first started in Lagos, during colonial Nigeria in 1901. After the exit of the Britons, the sector’s operations began to wind down. Then again it witnessed laudable reforms after President Buhari came into office. 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the second quarter of 2021, train passengers rose by 80% to 565,385 from 108,238 recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2020. 

There are about 26 legal level crossings under the Lagos District, with 12 found within the Lagos metropolis. Shockingly, the number of illegal level crossings in the state is reported to be more than double the official ones and they have to be shut down to prevent similar accident causation.

In 2018, over 500 train accidents were recorded in Nigeria. Of these, 222 accidents were caused either by loss of control or locomotive failure. Detachment and derailment were the second and third most common train accidents that occurred in Nigeria (Statista).

Safety education as a whole and Level crossing safety, in particular, should form a key part of the training for transporters to improve safety by managing and mitigating the risk at crossings.

By Victor J. Bassey