Lagos State takes delivery of 2 trains in readiness for launch of Red Line Rail System

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday announced the delivery of two Talgo Series 8 trains purchased from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, to be deployed in the Red Line Rail System.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, in a statement in Ikeja, said that the arrival of the trains was another major milestone that demonstrates the determination of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration to launch the Red Line Rail System by the first quarter of 2023.

“The 2 Nos. Ten and Eleven Car trains which were bought from Milwaukee are here,” he said, explaining that it was necessary to decouple the train into 21 individual cars for effective transportation in Lagos.

He said that the trains would be recoupled with the help of rolling stock Engineers from Talgo, the company that manufactured them in the United States of America.

“The engineers will also take the opportunity to train our local Engineers whilst they are here to equip our young people with the requisite skills.

“Once the recoupling is complete, the testing and commissioning will commence, followed by full passenger operations in the first quarter of 2023.

“Each train can carry 1500 passengers and is expected to run on the Red Line Rail from Agbado to Oyingbo, with the journey taking less than 30 minutes”, the Commissioner said.

In a tweet to express his joy, Gov Sanwo-Olu said the arrival of the trains was a fulfilment of his promise while performing the ground breaking ceremony of the Red Line Metro Project on 15th April, 2021 that his government would hit major milestones quickly.

He said, “As we progress towards our Quarter 1 2023 goal for the train service to come into operation, I am humbled by the grace that has allowed us to deliver this ground breaking red line project as we change the face of transportation in Lagos.