Lagos light train operations start 40 years after Buhari’s dismissal

Forty years after the first conception of the metro line for the state, the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line System has at last started its long-awaited commercial operations.

As operations got underway on Monday, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, was the first person to board the train.

The governor traveled from Marina to Mile 2 via train, then took the same route back to Marina.

The Lagos blue line train will begin commercial operations on Monday, September 4, according to Managing Director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, Mrs. Abimbola Akinajo, who made the announcement on Thursday.

Sanwo-Olu would be the first traveler on the train’s inaugural trip, Akinajo stated.

The concept for a metro line in Lagos State first emerged in 1983, under the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande.

With a projected completion date of 1986, Jakande, who served as the state’s first civilian governor, envisioned and launched the idea for a light rail system in the state in 1983.

All of the paperwork was completed at the time of conceptualization, and the contractor was prepared to be mobilized to the site.

However, the project hadn’t even started when the then-major-general Muhammadu Buhari conducted a coup.

At the time, the project was abandoned.

But 20 years after its inception, former governor Bola Tinubu opened the rail network project in 2003.

The light rail project’s various phases were color-coded at the project’s opening and included the Blue Line (Marina to Mile 2), Red Line (Agbado to Marina), Purple Line (Redeemed to Ojo), Yellow Line (Otta to Iddo), Brown Line (Mile 12 to Marina), Orange Line (Redeemed to Marina), and Green Line (Marina to Lekki).

The 27-kilometer Blue Line rail’s development got underway under the previous governor Babatunde Fashola’s watch.

The contract also covered the planning and creation of the rail network, with phased construction.

The project’s first phase included the area from the Marina to Mile 2, while the second phase covered Mile 2 to Okokomaiko.

The project was supposed to be completed in 2016, but former governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who took office in 2015, broke his pledge.

But upon taking office in 2019, Sanwo-Olu promised Lagosians that his administration will complete the project.

However, the locals’ optimism increased when former President Muhammadu Buhari opened the first section of the Blue Line rail in January 2023.

The Blue Line rail would be ready for commercial operations in March 2023, LAMATA declared right after the inauguration. Later, this day was moved twice, and on September 4th, business operations officially began.

Sanwo-Olu emphasized that the project was a promise honored in his delight at the start of the blue line rail’s operations.

“Everyone on this train is enthusiastic, even me. Promise made, promise maintained in this case. Although we had stated that we would begin at the end of the previous quarter, we also wanted it to coincide with our 100th day in office. The celebration of our 100 days continues with this.

“Today is September 4, 2023, and we are happy because we can now begin commercial operation. You can see that all of our citizens are onboard, and we can now begin actual passenger operation. Our cowry cards have allowed us to set sail. In order to get to the Iganmu station, we just left the National Arts Theatre station. We will depart from the Iganmu station and go to the Alaba station before arriving at the Mile 2 station.

We will all depart at the Mile 2 station since, in order to return to the Marina station, we must change platforms. And as you can see, everything is timed and synchronized. Because of the mass movement, the maximum number of seconds or minutes we will spend at the station is 90, or one and a half minutes. On both trips, it must transport tens of thousands of people, according to Sanwo-Olu.

The governor guaranteed Lagosians that the Red Line rail will be finished by the end of the year while speaking in front of his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and the approximately 800 passengers who had joined him for the maiden journey on Monday.

The red line rail, according to Sanwo-Olu, is roughly 95–96 percent finished and will be unveiled soon.

“The Red Line is currently between 95 and 96 percent complete, and we won’t commission it until it is. But we are confident that we will also commission the Red Line before the year is up.

“We will begin commissioning the bridges by the end of this month or the first week of October, including the Ikeja Along Bridge, Yaba Bridge, Ebute-Metta Bridge, Mushin Bridge, Ayoola Coker, and all the others. Starting with the Oyingbo Station, moving on to Yaba, Mushin, Ikeja, Agege, and Iju Stations, we will begin opening the bridges for vehicular traffic.

The governor stated, “We will commission all the stations, and after that, we will have a final movement, which I hope Mr. President will come to enable us to do before the end of the year.