In line with his administration’s commitment to traffic management and transportation, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has acquired two sets of new 10 cars Talgo 330kmph trains for Lagos Red Line project.
In a statement, yesterday, the Lagos chief executive completed the deal at a public event inside the Milwaukee facilities of Spanish train manufacturer, Talgo Incorporated in the United States, yesterday.
The trains will be heading to Lagos, for the Red Line, a 37-kilometre track rail project started by the governor. The project will have 11 stations, and when completed, it will be the first operational metro system in West Africa.
Speaking at the event, Sanwo-Olu, who was accompanied by the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde; Special Adviser on Works, Aramide Adeyoye and Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Abimbola Akinajo, stated the state government was excited to complete the purchase of the two brand new trains. He said they were in Milwaukee to see things for themselves.
The governor observed: “A train is not something you can just go on the shelf and pick up. We are very lucky to get brand new trains. We have seen our beautiful white and red trains. Coincidentally, the rail line is called Red Line, and you can see they have given us the colour. We are just going to brand it and put up our seal there.
“We hope that this (purchase of the trains) will be the beginning of a mutually beneficial business relationship. Providing source of livelihood for our citizens is all about providing jobs for our people, and that is what we are doing. It is about ensuring that we can build our economy, people can move from one location to another and businesses can grow.
“Part of what we have done in the last two and half years is to have what we call integrated urban mass transportation system, where we will be using road infrastructure, waterway infrastructure and rail infrastructure so that we can move over 20 million Lagosians within and around the city.”
The acting Milwaukee Mayor, Cavalier Johnson, who received Governor Sanwo-Olu in the city, said: “It is a little bittersweet. I am sending my congratulations to the Governor of Lagos State in Nigeria, but also a little disappointed that we missed out on the opportunity to have those train sets operating here in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin.”
In his contribution, the CEO and President, Talgo USA, Antonio Perez, submitted: “For us, it is important that our trains are utilised. It doesn’t make any good for the trains that we built to be stored and kept without passengers riding them.”
Sanwo-Olu has specifically promised Lagosians that first phase of the Red Line will begin by the last quarter of 2022 or first quarter of 2023, with a capacity of 500,000 passengers daily.(The Guardian)
•PHOTO: Babajide Sanwo-Olu
