The Lagos state government has purchased two 10-car, 330 km/h Talgo speed trains for its Red Line railway project.
State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu completed the procurement agreement for the trains on Tuesday at an event inside the Milwaukee facility of Spanish train maker Talgo Incorporated in the US.
Trains will head to Lagos for the state’s Red Line, a 37km rail project.
Once completed, the Red Line will have 11 stations and will transfer passengers from Agbado to Oyingbo.
Sanwo-Olu said the state government was excited to complete the purchase of the two new trains.
He said the acquisition was in line with his administration’s commitment to efficient traffic management and transportation system.
The governor was accompanied on the trip by the State Transportation Commissioner, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde; the Governor’s Works Advisor, Ms. Aramide Adeyoye; and the Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, Ms. Abimbola Akinajo.
He said that government officials inspected the trains, looked at the configuration and were satisfied that the trains would fit on the Red Line tracks.
”A train is not something that you can just go to the platform and pick up. We are very lucky to have new trains.
”We have seen our beautiful white and red trains. Coincidentally, the train line is called Red Line and you can see that they have given us the color.
“We’re just going to mark it and put our stamp on it,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu talks about the fast trains purchased for the Red Line project
He hoped that the purchase of the trains would be the start of a mutually beneficial business relationship between Lagos State and the train manufacturer.
“Providing a source of livelihood for our citizens is about providing jobs for our people and that is what we are doing.
”This is about ensuring that we can build our economy; people can move from one place to another and businesses can grow,” said Sanwo-Olu.
He said that part of what the government had achieved in the past two and a half years was an integrated urban mass transit system, in which road, river and rail infrastructure would be used to move more than 20 million residents in and around of the state.
Milwaukee Mayor Pro Tem Cavalier Johnson, who hosted Gov. Sanwo-Olu in town, said it was bittersweet to have missed the opportunity to have trains operating in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
Johnson congratulated Governor Sanwo-Olu on the acquisition of the trains and hoped it would make moving in Lagos State easier.
Mr. Antonio Pérez, CEO of Talgo, USA, said that it was important that the trains be used.
“It’s no use for the trains we build to be stored and maintained without passengers riding on them,” Pérez said.
The Lagos state delegation inspected the interior design of the newly acquired 330 km/h Talgo intra-urban metropolitan trains.
Since the beginning of his administration on May 29, 2019, Sanwo-Olu has upheld his administration’s commitment to making the Red Line dream a reality.
The governor promised Lagos state residents that the Red Line would start in the quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023, with a capacity of 500,000 passengers per day.
L-r: Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Temitope Adewale; President & CEO, Talgo Incorporated USA, Antonio Perez; Acting Mayor of Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Engr. (Mrs) Abimbola Akinajo, during a factory tour of high-speed train manufacturers, Talgo Incorporated Company for the acquisition of two sets of brand new 10-car Metro Trains for Lagos Rail project, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on Tuesday, 18 January 2022. With them: Special Adviser to the Governor on Works & Infrastructure, Engr. Aramide Adeyoye (third right), Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Federic Oladeinde (right) and others
