Buhari to commission Lagos Blue rail line Tuesday

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday commission the 13 kilometres first phase of the Lagos Blue Rail Line.

The Blue Line is expected to be 27 km long, connecting Okokomaiko to Marina.

The event will take place at the Marina Train Station, Outer Marina area of the state, a letter of invitation sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday said.

“This special event is proposed to invite President Muhammad Buhari GCFR, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, The Minister of Transportation Mu’azu Sambo and The Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Cui Jianchun,” the letter reads.

“We believe that your presence will give us more encouragement and enthusiasm to complete this event successfully.”

The elevated train network will transit between Marina and Mile-2 axis of the state as part of measures to ease road congestion.

The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said “the rail project would move no less than 250,000 passengers daily, while the entire line when completed would move more than 500,000 passengers.”

The rail has five stations at Mile 2, Suru-Alaba, Orile Iganmu, National Theatre and Marina.

The project is being handled by the state’s Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

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LAMATA initially planned to establish a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, to run from Mile 12 to Lagos Island. However, in 2008, the agency chose to focus on a seven-line network codenamed Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Brown and Orange lines.

The project was flagged off in 1999 during the administration of the then governor, Bola Tinubu.