The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the state government aims at the completion of the Lagos Intra-City train project which would cost the state N150bn and he assures that, the boarding ticket for the train, won’t exceed ₦250 per trip.
The governor disclosed this on Friday, 28 January 2022, while featuring on the Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme.
He stated that, the newly acquired Talgo Intra-City Ten Coach metropolitan trains are super-fast and comfortable and are the Lagos Red Line Metro project which is in line with the intermodal transport plan of the state.
According to him, the 37 km Red Line on completion, will traverse eight stations. Moving passengers from Agbado through Oyingbo.
He said it would cost the state N150bn to complete the Red and Blue Lines, adding that the investment would be worth it for the movement of over 22 million Lagosians within the state.
Having stated the affordability in boarding the train, he added that, the intra-city trains would help in decongesting traffic on the road.
“N200, N250, it (train ticket) probably won’t be more than that. The fare structure will be (determined by) where you are joining and taking off but typically it won’t be more than what you are running on your regular BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) today.
“For it to be accessible, affordability is really critical for people to want to make it a better option. You can say it is quicker, instead of you staying one hour on the road, it is going to take you 20 minutes.
“So, affordability is very critical. It is certainly not going to be in thousands, like using N5,000 on. A train journey, it is nothing close to that. It is still going to be in the regular N200, that is what we are looking at.”
In confidence, Sanwo-olu noted that, his government is looking forward to ramping up the completion of the ancillary infrastructure like the train stations ahead of the planned start of the intra-city train operations by end of 2022.
