…To Resume Operations On Sept 9
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended train services on Port Harcourt and Aba route for routine maintenance, with operations scheduled to resume on Tuesday, September 9.
The Managing Director of NRC, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, in a press release issued and shared on the corporation’s official X handle on Thursday, stated that the suspension was temporary, assuring passengers that regular train services will resume as planned.
He stated: “Port-Harcourt to Aba train services [are] suspended for routine maintenance.
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“To resume regular train services on the 9th of September 2025”, Opeifa added.
He expressed the NRC management’s apologies to passengers who might be affected by the disruption and the inconveniences to them.
The maintenance is coming just about two months after the Port Harcourt–Aba train service, which is serving commuters in Rivers and Abia States, serving stations at Port Harcourt, Elelenwo, Obuzor, Umugo, and Aba, became operational in July 2025 after the completion of rehabilitation works on the corridor.
The Port Harcourt and Aba rail service is a component of the larger Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Eastern Narrow Gauge Railway project, which was financed through a $3 billion agreement signed in March 2021 between the Federal Government and a syndicate of Chinese financiers, with Nigeria contributing 15% and the syndicate covering 85%.
The reconstruction of the rail line commenced in 2022 and by January 2024, the track laying on the Port Harcourt–Aba corridor had been completed.
Following the track laying work, in November 2024 the Federal Government formally handed over the 62-kilometre stretch of the rail line to the NRC, along with 283 kilometres of dismantled tracks, 62.8 kilometres of rehabilitated subgrade and mainline rail, 5.7 kilometres of sliding lines, and 27 reconstructed turnouts across the key stations.
