The Lagos State Government has penned a major agreement with Alstom SA of France, an international railway systems aggregator and rolling stocks manufacturer in view of the state Rail Mass Transit which will become operational in 2022.
Abiodun Dabiri, Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, said that the collaboration is a result of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s commitment to transforming public transportation. He said a consortium of experts engaged by the state government to undertake a technical due diligence on the LRMT Blue Line Project (Mile 2 – Marina) had developed a roadmap to bring the railway project to passenger operations.
For ease of implementation, the work plan had been divided into two phases, with phase one aimed at demonstrating the non-public operation of the existing rolling stock before end of second quarter of 2019, Dabiri disclosed.
“For this purpose, a track length of about 3.0 km from Iganmu Station to National Theatre will be electrified. This operation would be done with the rolling stocks already supplied for the Blue Line project.
“This phase would allow the completion of all the preliminary works that would lead to the financing of the main works in Phase two. Phase one will be fully financed by Lagos State Government through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“Phase two, which is expected to be completed in 39 months, would entail the provision and installation of railway operations’ systems for the project from Marina to Mile 2 and the delivery of a passenger-ready Lagos Blue Rail Line by 2022,” he said.
