The Senate on Thursday called for a thorough investigation into the entire contract and execution agreements of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano railway line, 10 years after it began full commercial operations.

Worried about the deplorable condition of both the railway line and the attendant poor service delivery by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the Senate resuscitated its Ad-hoc Committee set up last November but was hampered by a lack of funds to commence the probe of the national asset.

One train ride from Abuja to Kaduna last week by Senator Abdul Ningi -who represents Bauchi Central was all it took to reveal -the deplorable state of Nigeria’s rail transport network-especially the tracks linking the Northern corridors.

Coming on Order 42-, NINGI laments how a journey that should have taken an hour at most took over three hours on a worn-out, second-hand train.

“A Nigerian tragedy”-that’s how the PDP Bauchi Senator refers to the situation as he recounts how the Abuja -Kaduna train service has diminished in quality -from transporting 10,000 passengers daily when it first started to running a single shuttle of less than a thousand passengers a day.

Ningi’s further laments how the revenue from the train service has dwindled over time and called on the Senate to treat the issue as “a national emergency”.

The Abuja-Kaduna railway line was completed in 2015 as the first phase of the Nigerian railway modernization project.

Constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the Abuja-Kaduna railway was largely funded by project-tied loans obtained from China.

But over the years -, the Abuja-Kaduna rail route has been at the receiving end of poor maintenance, vandalism, bandit attacks and derailments-with the most recent incident in last August in ASHAM.

Chairman Senate Committee on Transport, Senator Adamu Aliero backs the motion ; calling for a concerted effort to fix the “eyesore ‘ the Abuja -Kaduna rail line has become.

In his contribution, President of the Senate, Godswill AKPABIO questions the entire contract agreement and execution of the rail project and calls for a thorough investigation into every single KOBO spent.

Displeased by the “sorry state” of the entire train facilities; AKPABIO took a swipe at the sluggish nature of the Chinese trains when he said “bicycle-even keke is faster than Abuja-Kaduna train.

The Senate subsequently revived its ad hoc committee set up since last November to investigate the matter but was hampered by a paucity of funds.

The probe panel headed by Senator Adams Oshiomhole was formally inaugurated at plenary on Thursday and given six weeks to complete the assignment.