If you have it in you to make the five-minute trek from the gate of the National Theatre, Lagos to where the current Blue Line Rail Station stands, then you stand a chance to arrive in Mile 2 in just under 25 minutes, bypassing all the traffic and the noise that dote commuting by road in Lagos.
Launched just Monday by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, the Blue Line Rail System kicked off its operations by carrying the governor and his entourage from Marina to Mile 2, with drops and pickups at National Theatre, Iganmu and Alaba.
In the coming months, if we are lucky, the Blue Line Rail System will carry passengers past Mile 2 all the way to Okokomaiko, with stops at Festac, Trade Fair, Alakija, LASU and other major bus stops. Work is currently on to that effect.
Still in its testing phase, the Blue Line Rail System is not yet fully powered by electricity. At the moment, it runs on diesel. But the managing director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Abimbola Akinajo said this is temporary.
The other 37km red line, which will only come to fruition at the end of the year, will be powered by diesel and will run from Agbado to Ebute Meta before connecting with the Blue Line Rail at Marina.
Just a few days since it has been operational, so far the Blue Line Rail System has kept exactly to time, departing immediately as it said it would. But on its first day, the station remains eerily empty mostly, with a massive waiting area still in its skeleton.
When it is fully operational, the Blue Line Rail System is expected to carry 500,000 passengers daily. Currently, the management is hoping to do at least 175,000 passengers.
Its a lot of companies that have come together to make the Blue Line Rail system a success. Now those companies must prove themselves by working together, and it seems for a very long time.
There is of course LAMATA, in their crisp blue shirts. Then there are the Chinese engineers working for China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), and the all-male drivers for the trains that the Chinese have implanted from Abuja, where they had also driven trains.
When I asked one driver what his experience had been like working with the Chinese. “Well, they are Chinese,” he offered.
Then there are the people from Cowry, who supply the cards, the train tickets if you like. And the people from eTap who manage the touch-and-pay technology that powers the gates to the boarding area.
The Blue Line Rail passenger experience
Passengers who ditched the road for the train had to stand until the boarding started for the first evening train at 5 p.m. Some passengers had been waiting since 4 p.m.
At the National Theatre station, the first stop after Marina, passengers who highlighted or boarded had to make the trek on foot. Staff at the station say that they are working on making shuttles available for passengers in the coming weeks.
The bus fare from Marina to Mile 2 is N750. But as part of providing succour at a time of economic upheavals that have wrecked the country, the Lagos government has slashed bus fares for the government-backed public transport system by 50 per cent.
About thirty minutes before the departure time, passengers swiped their Cowry cards which worked smoothly at the Marina Station. But the station at the National Theatre is another story. Its etap gate shutters so fast, that one passenger barely made it out without an injury.
The staff at the Blue Line Rail stations, from security to drivers to ticket agents to managers have so far been patient and polite to passengers, always asking how they can be of assistance. First-day jitters maybe? But so far it has been fair.
With six people on each bench, passengers were bone-tired and had to travel from the Island mostly for work back home in Mile 2 were excited that they had beat the traffic, in a way too good to be true.
One passenger said she would bring her children with her just to take the ride. But that type of experience is still too early. The train for now doesn’t travel in the afternoon. Her children will have to wait till 5:30 pm before they journey back home if they take the morning train from Mile 2.
“This is enjoyment,” she said as the fully airconditioned machine drew her home. Even though she wasn’t happy about the fact that eating or drinking is not allowed on the train.
Other passengers took photos, documenting the new way to travel within the traffic-locked city of Lagos. There were countless flashlights and shutter sounds. They were laughing. One young man was on a video call, showing his interlocutor the station, the new Lagos.
Read also: Nigerian fintech TAP’s Cowry cards to be used for new Lagos Blue Rail line
But
There is a swathe of Lagos that has been excommunicated from the Blue Line Rail project itself. The concept of a rail in parts of Aja and Ikorodu remains a pipe dream.
At a time of great upheaval, the Blue Line Rail System presents great opportunities for the leaders of Lagos and the country to focus on a more effective way of transportation. It’s electric which is a plus.
But these opportunities are only for those that can dream big.
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