New High-Speed Trains to Boost Lagos Urban Transportation

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Lagos State government has said the two newly acquired high-speed trains for its Red Line rail project will improve the state’s goal of achieving urban transportation as it will improve traffic management and transportation.

This was as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu completed the acquisition deal of the two sets of 10 cars Talgo 330 kilometre per hour trains on Tuesday at an event held inside the Milwaukee facilities of Spanish train manufacturer, Talgo Incorporated, in the United States.

Mr Gboyega Akosile, who is the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in a disclosure revealed that the trains will be heading to Lagos for the Red Line – a 37km track rail project which will have 11 stations and will be the first operational metro system in West Africa when completed.

“A train is not something you can just go on the shelf and pick up,” the Governor was quoted as saying at the event.

“We are very lucky to get brand new trains. We have seen our beautiful white and red trains. Coincidentally, the rail line is called Red Line and you can see they have given us the colour. We are just going to brand it and put up our seal there.

“We hope that this (purchase of the trains) will be the beginning of a mutually beneficial business relationship. Providing a source of livelihood for our citizens is all about providing jobs for our people and that is what we are doing. It is about ensuring that we can build our economy; people can move from one location to another, and businesses can grow.

“Part of what we have done in the last two and half years is to have what we call Integrated Urban Mass transportation system, where we will be using road infrastructure, waterway infrastructure, and rail infrastructure so that we can move over 20 million Lagosians within and around the city,” he added.

Governor Sanwo-Olu gave an assurance that the first phase of the Red Line would begin by the last quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023, with a capacity of 500,000 passengers daily.