The Lagos State Government has taken delivery of new trains from Milwaukee, United States, for its Redline rail project, a 37-kilometre intracity railway system.

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, said the delivery was in line with the government’s determination to deliver the operation of the Red Line Rail System by the first quarter of 2023.

Omotoso said: “Talgo Series 8 Trains, the 2 Nos. Ten and Eleven Car trains which were bought from Milwaukee are here.”

He explained that it was necessary to decouple the train into 21 individual cars for effective transportation to Lagos, adding that the trains will be recoupled with the help of rolling stock Engineers from Talgo, the company that manufactured the trains in the United State of America.

He added: “The Engineers will also take the opportunity to train our local Engineers whilst they are here to equip our young people with the requisite skills. Once the recoupling is complete, the testing and commissioning will commence followed by full passenger operations in the first quarter of 2023”

“Each train can carry 1500 passengers and is expected to run on the Red Line Rail from Agbado to Oyingbo, with the journey taking less than 30 minutes”, he said.