By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos state government says it has taken delivery of modern coaches from Milwaukee, US.
The state government revealed that the coaches would work on the Lagos Metro Red Line Rail billed to start in first quarter of next year.
The state governor , Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced the arrival of the coaches on his Twitter handle yesterday, said the line project would change the face of transportation in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr . Gbenga Omotoso , on his Facebook page also confirmed the arrival of the coaches.
In announcing the arrival of the coaches, Omotoso posted:”Another major milestone in the drive by Lagos state to deliver the operation of the red line rail system by 1st quarter 2023.
“The Talgo series 8 Trains that were acquired for the red line have landed in Lagos. The 2 No. ten and Eleven car trains which were bought from Milwaukee are here.
” It was necessary to decouple the train to 21 individual cars for effective transportation to Lagos.
“The train will be recoupled with the help of rolling stock engineers from Talgo, the company that manufactured the trains.
“The engineers will also train local engineers whilst they are here in order to equip our young people in the requisite skills. Once the recouping is complete, the testing and commissioning will commence followed by full passenger operations first quarter 2023.
” Each train has the capacity to carry 1500 passengers and is expected to run on the red line rail from Agbada to Oyingbo, with the journey taking less than 30minutes”.