By The Lagos state government has officially commenced operating the country’s first metro rail service called, the Blue Metro Rail Line. The 13km-long first phase, which took longer than expected to complete has opened its services to help make commuting within the Lagos metropolis easier.
The Blue Line links the mainland part of the city where most people live with the more commercially active part of the state, Lagos Island, where many businesses are headquartered.
This system is expected to ease traffic in the state with more than 20 million residents experiencing regular traffic gridlock, which has in return heightened frustration among motorists and commuters who are forced to spend hours in traffic every day, the train service is expected to dramatically slash traveling times.
It is expected that a journey that usually takes more than two hours should now take anywhere between 13-20 minutes, This is according to officials of the train service. one can therefore expect an increased productivity amongst Lagosians.
Commuters have stated that the train is currently being aided by a locomotive engine, One can assume this to be an emergency measure of the government to eradicate the frustrating hours spent in traffic by Lagosians, and also as a measure to quickly combat the recent hike in fuel and transportation cost.
It is however expected that After one month, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) should start using fully electric-powered trains with more than 70 trips a day to ferry between 150,000 and 175,000 passengers, from 5:30 am to 11 pm daily.
The train service was first conceived in 1983, but the construction of the rail line was started by then Lagos-state governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, now Twenty years later, after being hit by repeated delays, the Lagos state government has made it happen through resilience and commitment.
The Government has also committed to launching another phase of the metro rail service called the red-line, This phase When completed will bring both line to a total of 27-km rail line which is expected to transport about 500,000 passengers daily.
