Passengers were on Saturday left stranded as a Lagos-bound train from Ibadan, Oyo, was temporarily forced to stop in a bush.

The train which reportedly took off from the Obafemi Awolowo Train Station, Ibadan, at 8:30 a.m. abruptly stopped around Funmilayo Ransom Kuti at Papalanto area.

Punch newspaper reports that the unexpected disruption of the journey was as a result of the activities of vandals. 

Hoodlums were said to have allegedly vandalised components of the rail line, causing an unexpected halt in the trip to Lagos.

Feyi Leo, a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, who had boarded the train told journalists that the incident caused panic onboard the train. 

Ms Leo said the trip was going smoothly until the train approached Papalanto where it stopped and reversed a few meters.

She disclosed that a train coming from Lagos to Ibadan was also forced to stop in the opposite direction, continuing the journey after the damaged section had been fixed.

“We were agitated and started asking questions. An announcement was made by the NRC official onboard that their technicians were fixing a fault on the track and that it would not take long,” Ms Leo said.

“True to their word, we left after 20 minutes of stoppage,” she added.

Similarly, in January, a train was forced to stop for 35 minutes before the journey later continued.

The 157 kilometres Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway started commercial operations in September 2020.