The Blue Line is an electric

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

line that runs in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It is part of the

Lagos Rail Mass Transit Lagos Rail Mass Transit is a rapid transit system in Lagos State. The rail system is managed by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA). The railway equipment including electric power ...

system run by the

Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) is the Lagos State Government agency created to coordinate transport planning, policies, and public transport infrastructure implementation in the Lagos, Lagos Metropolitan Area, Nigeria. Th ...

. The first phase with five stations and of track opened on 4 September 2023. The full line is set to be and is expected to carry 500,000 passengers a day. The line's trains are made by

CRRC Dalian CRRC Dalian Co., Ltd. (), often abbreviated as DLoco, is a company located in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, producing railway locomotives, multiple units and diesel engines. The factory was established in 1899 during the period of constructio ...

and based on Chinese Type B trains from Tianjin Metro Line 2. They have a maximum speed of 100 km/h, although they will only operate at 80 km/h.

History

In April 2008, the

Lagos State Government Lagos State Government is the government of Lagos State, concerned with the administration of the state ministries. The government consists of the executive, Lagos State House of Assembly, legislative and Lagos State Judiciary, Judiciary. The go ...

approved

₦ The naira (sign: ₦; code: NGN; , , , ) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the ...

70 billion for construction of the Okokomaiko- Iddo-Marina Line, with an estimated completion date of 2011. However, the project suffered many delays due to lack of funds. The opening date was revised to June 2013, then December 2016, then 2017. As of November 2016, only of the Blue Line had been completed. In August 2018, LAMATA signed an agreement with

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

. As a part of the agreement,

conducted a review of the rail lines, and electrification of a portion of the track was planned. It began service on 4 September 2023. In its first year (ending in September 2024), the Blue Line carried roughly 2 million passengers. Starting in August 2024, 72 train services run every day, an increase in frequency from 54 previously.

Development plan

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

is financing construction of the Blue Line with its own resources. The proposed advantages of the blue line are that is will allow commuters to spend less time travelling in the area by avoiding traffic jams which can take many hours to get through, whilst also being cheaper. A journey that would have taken two hours in traffic can now be taken in fifteen minutes. The trains are electrified, and security has been provided to prevent vandalism.

Contractors

The contract was awarded to the

China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd. (abbreviation CCECC) was established in June 1979 under the approval of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. CCECC developed from the earlier Foreign Aid Department of the Min ...

(CCECC), with advisory services being provided by

CPCS Transcom Limited CPCS Transcom Limited (commonly known as CPCS) is an international infrastructure development firm specialising in private sector participation in transportation and power infrastructure, operations, investment, policy and regulation. An Ottawa, On ...

Rolling Stock

In September 2011, LAMATA announced that it would acquire some H5-series subway trains formerly used by the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

(TTC) for the Blue Line. The cars were to be refurbished in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

before being imported and put into service on the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

and

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

lines. The same contract also included an option for some H6-series subway cars from the TTC, however this has since been cancelled. In January 2015, LAMATA opted for Chinese-built trains instead, ordering 15 electro-diesel multiple units from

with an option for 14 more. About 76 H5 cars that had been taken for refurbishment to Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, have been scrapped by August 2015.

Planned route

The Blue Line will run from Okokomaiko to

Lagos Marina Lagos Island () is the principal and central Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a population of 2 ...

, with 13 stations and an end-to-end journey time of 35 minutes. The entire Blue Line will operate over a secure and exclusive right-of-way, with no

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

s and no uncontrolled access by pedestrians or vehicles. The route will run on the surface in the central reservation of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway between Igbo-Elerin Road (Okokomaiko) and Iganmu. The line will then be elevated from Iganmu along the south side of the expressway passing the junction with Eric Moore Road, crossing just south of the National Theatre to Iddo, then south to

Lagos Island Lagos Island () is the principal and central Local government areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian ce ...

with a terminal at Marina connecting with the Red Line. A Maintenance and Storage Facility (MSF) will be constructed at Okokomaiko, with a track connection from the Blue Line to the depot.

Phase I

The first phase was opened for testing on 21 December 2022. This phase travels from Lagos Marina to Mile 2 interchanging with the

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

Lines. The 5 stations being opened are:

, National Theatre, Orile Iganmu, Suru Alaba, Mile 2. The line was undergoing testing during December 2022 and January 2023 before opening to passengers on 4 September, 2023.

Phase II

Construction of the second phase, from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko, commenced after the first phase opened for passenger service. Construction of this project began in 2023 and is currently expected to be completed in 2027.

References

External links

LAMATA website on LRMT
Lagos Rail Mass Transit Rapid transit in Nigeria Public transport in Lagos Rail infrastructure in Lagos Railway lines opened in 2023 2023 establishments in Nigeria Standard-gauge railways in Nigeria {{Nigeria-transport-stub Rail transport in Lagos