Lagos State Government has urged its residents to stay off rail tracks as the State’s ‘Blue Line Rail’ prepares to begin operations fully on electric-powered tracks, Monday, October 16.
This announcement was made by the Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Jubril Gawat, via a post on his verified X handle on Thursday, October 12.
Gawat wrote, “Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority continues the testing and simulation of the fully electric tracks this afternoon for the #BlueLineRail.
“Once again, tell your friends to tell your friends that they should not even think about getting near the tracks or try to vandalise or steal the tracks, the result will be fatal.”
Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the Managing Director of LAMATA, Mrs Abimbola Akinajo, states that the Lagos State Government would increase the train trips from 12 to 52 beginning from Monday, October 16, 2023, adding that trips would be increased to 74 before the end of November 2023.
“It is expected that by next Monday, the tracks would have been energised, thus allowing for the deployment of additional train sets for daily passenger operations.”
Akinajo added that to allow a seamless migration to fully-energised rails, passenger operations will only run during the peak period on Saturday morning, adding, “There would be no service on Saturday afternoon and the entire Sunday, October 15, 2023 to allow the complete change over to electricity.”
She further stated, “We need to shut down train operations for passengers’ safety while the switch to electricity is on as well as ensure that the test is carried out in a safe manner.”
