The commissioner says the Red Line would become operational first quarter of 2023

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it had received two trains - TALGO SERIES 8 - for the Red Line Rail System.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, made this known in a statement in Ikeja.

He said the arrival of the trains was another major milestone in the determination to deliver the operation of the Red Line Rail System by the first quarter of 2023.

"The 2 Nos. Ten and Eleven Car trains which were bought from Milwaukee are here," he said, explaining that it was necessary to decouple the train into 21 individual cars for effective transportation to Lagos.

He said the trains would be recoupled with the help of rolling stock engineers from Talgo, the company that manufactured them in the United States of America.

"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", the Commissioner said.