After 40 years, Lagos rail opens with offer of 15 minutes for 2-hour trip

Nigeria’s economic capital and one of its most chaotic cities, Lagos, finally has a functional light rail.

The long-planned rail service, opened Monday by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, seeks to ease traffic congestion and cut the travel time for a 2-hour trip to 15 minutes. It will also convey 175,000 people daily.

The metro system started in 1983 when Lagos was Nigeria’s political capital, but successive governments failed to actualise it due in part to lack of funding. A formal opening ceremony held in December, but the service did not actually carry passengers until now.

The 13 km first phase of the of the Blue Line rail was built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. It links Lagos mainland where most people live with upscale Lagos Island, where many businesses are headquartered.

The construction of the second phase of the rail project is expected to begin later this year and on completion the metro is expected to carry some 500,000 passengers daily, officials say.

175,000 passengers daily

Speaking at the commissioning on Monday, Gov. Sanwo-Olu assured users of security.

Ahead of the start-off, the managing director, Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Abimbola Akinajo, said the train system would be conveying 175,000 passengers on daily basis.

She said the train service, which would run from Mile 2 to Marina, would run 12 trips on daily basis for a period of two weeks, and the service would gradually increase.

“We will be working according to a timetable. That timetable will be available on LAMATA’s website, that timetable will also be available at every station,” she said.

“When the train gets into any station, it will stop for no more than 90 seconds. So, you need to know, and this is it, for us to understand that it is a scheduled service.”

The rail service has five stations which comprise Marina, National Theatre, Orile-Iganmu, Alaba, and Mile 2.