The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has assured residents that the Redline Light Rail system from Ebute-Metta to Agbado will be ready by the end of 2023 as the project is 95% completed.
This was made known by Governor Sanwo-Olu while briefing the media after the official flag-off of the Blue Light rail passenger operation on Monday, September 4, 2023.
The governor in the company of his deputy, Dr. Femi Hamzat, and his wife, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, had earlier in the morning, made an inaugural ride on the rail from CMS Terminal to Mile-2 Station in Lagos.
The governor was also accompanied by Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, All Progressives Congress Chairman in Lagos, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, ex-APC Chairman, Tunde Balogun, former Deputy Governor, Femi Pedro, former Speaker of the House of Assembly Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, wife of the governor, Mrs. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, among other top government officials. Students were also on the inaugural train service.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said that the flyover being constructed for the Red Line would be commissioned and opened gradually beginning from the end of September so that passengers and motorists can start using the facilities.
The 37-kilometre Red Line rail project, which was flagged off by Governor Sanwo-Olu in April 2021, is expected to have 8 train stations from Agbado to Oyingbo in the first phase while terminating at Iddo in the second phase.
The Red Line is part of the state government’s vision of an integrated multimodal transportation system contained in the State’s Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP), developed by LAMATA, which aims ultimately to birth a world-class transportation network that will support the state’s profile, as the economic capital of Nigeria and Africa.
The Red Line rail project has faced a couple of delays with the Lagos State Government earlier assuring that it will be completed before the end of 2022.
This was further extended to the first quarter of 2023 as the government announced that it has received 2 trains, TALGO Serie 8, for the Red Line Rail System.
