What You Should Know About Lagos Electric Blue Rail That Will Cut Your Travel Time By Over 80 Percent

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, is a 1,171 square kilometer city bustling with commercial activities, housing over 15 million inhabitants. From the affluent Lagos Island, where many of the country’s companies are headquartered, to the Mainland, being stuck in traffic is a daily nightmare for many Lagosians – residents of Lagos.

The Lagos Blue Line, a million-dollar project initiated in 2008, is one of several unsuccessful projects by the State Government aimed at alleviating the persistent traffic congestion that forces an average resident to spend over a month and ten days in traffic each year according to a recent report.

On September 4, 2023, after four decades since plans for a rail service connecting different parts of Lagos were proposed, the first phase of the electric-powered Blue Line was opened to passengers for the first time.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was re-elected for a second term, stated during the commissioning in September that the “Blue Line Rail is one of the railway projects designed to transform Lagos into a fully interconnected city and revolutionize our city’s transportation system.”

How The Electric Blue Rail Will Benefit Lagosians:

Lagos, often regarded as the land of opportunities where businesses thrive and job opportunities abound, has witnessed a population growth averaging 36 percent from 2013 to 2023. However, over time, this growth comes with an economic cost, as Lagosians lose approximately ₦4 trillion per year due to traffic congestion, according to Franca Ovadje, the founder and executive director of Danne Institute, a research-focused nonprofit organization.

With nearly 20 million inhabitants, over five million cars, and 200,000 commercial vehicles on the roads, residents often speak of their traffic experiences as if they were normal.

On Monday, October 30, 2023, Neusroom visited the Electric Blue Rail at around 8 PM, a time when economic activities wind down and roads are often congested with commuters. Not surprisingly, our correspondent witnessed heavy traffic which turned an 8.8-kilometer journey from Maryland to Mile 2 into a two-hour ordeal – from 5:45 to 7:45 PM. However, the 13-kilometer journey from Mile 2 Station to Marina Station using the Electric Blue Rail took approximately 18 minutes.

Now, with the 13-kilometer Blue Rail, expected, according to official estimates, to transport 250,000 passengers daily and a total of 500,000 passengers upon completion of the 27-kilometer second phase, the project aims to reduce commuters’ travel time from two hours to just 15 minutes. This represents an 87.5 percent reduction in traffic time and will significantly boost the overall productivity of residents.

According to Ahmed, the Cowry official who issued the card at the Mile 2 Station, the first train leaves Mile 2 at 6:30 AM and completes a total of 54 trips until 9:25 PM. While officials of The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) claimed that they were instructed not to disclose the average number of people who board the train per trip, security officials at the Station told Neusroom that during morning rush hours, a trip carries over 400 people. Although Neusroom was unable to verify the exact number of people that board the train per trip, the number varies.

During the departure trip to Marina from Mile 2 at 8:25 PM, only 13 people were on the train. However, the return trip saw a surge of well over 200 people who presumably are returning from work from the Island to the Mainland.

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“Today was my first day. I used it in the morning,” a passenger told a Neusroom correspondent. When asked if the number he witnessed in the morning was larger, he claimed it was double the size. “There was no place to sit down. People were pressed together like sardines,” he said.

For now, it appears that there is no limit to the number of Cowry cards that can be issued, a situation that can not only damage some of the equipment in the train but also make the experience feel like the struggle Lagos commercial users are used to.

Perhaps the lack of proper regulation is because the project is also expected to be a profitable venture for the state government. Neusroom’s research indicates that if the rail, upon completion, operates at full capacity with 500,000 passengers per day, and with passengers paying a ₦750 fare (the price if fuel subsidy palliative were removed), the state government stands to generate ₦136.875 billion from the railway tracks in a year.

Neusroom’s message to Olasunkanmi Okusaga, Director of Rail Transportation in Lagos State, to know how many people currently use the railways per day has not been responded to.

But challenges, as with other railway projects in Nigeria undertaken by the previous Federal Government led by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, remain a major concern for the functionality of the electric-powered Lagos rails. For instance, seven years after ₦317.3 billion was spent on the Abuja-Kaduna railway track, terrorism, vandalism, and mismanagement have hindered its intended use as a means of transportation and have not realised the expected economic benefits.