The malfunctioning locomotives recently built for Nigerians, by the Chinese, have been blamed on ‘bad luck’ by the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC).
CRCC after-sales manager Su Zhiguang, who heads the maintenance team on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, told newsmen that the trains, which arrived in Nigeria in January, were test run and certified ready for deployment in China.
At least three passenger trains had broken down after suffering mechanical failures in quick succession over the last two weeks, leaving hundreds stranded along the dangerous Abuja-Kaduna tracks.
When asked why the trains (CDD5c2 2701 and CDD5c2 2702 models) were frequently breaking down only a few months after they were commissioned, the CRCC engineer said: “It’s hard to say, maybe bad luck because the trains were newly built and certified okay by our company in China before they were sent to Nigeria in January.”
“In my many years of experience in after-sales service, this situation is the first I’m seeing,” Mr. Zhiguang said.
