From The Press: Eko Rail’s Trains Begin Journey to Lagos
On September 30, 2011,
in Articles, From the Press, Infrastructure, Transportation,
by admin (fj)
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The first of hundreds of Toronto subway cars that will furnish a new surface rail line in Lagos, Nigeria, has left Canada for the last time, and is now en route to Africa’s largest city.
A Nigerian company, Eko Rail, has agreed to purchase 255 of the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) best-equipped subway cars for use in a much-needed Lagos Blue Line mass transit system. The TTC is in the process of purchasing larger “Rocket” trains to increase passenger capacity on their lines.
As the electric-powered cars become surplus and are pulled offline in Toronto, they will be individually trucked to the United States for a rebuilding by a team of world-class rail engineers. The cars will also undergo track-width (or “gauge”) conversion and interior refurbishment before being shipped to Lagos.
The trains have been inspected by the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, who endorsed the plan to purchase them following his official visit to Toronto in May 2011.
“The shipment of the first car is an important step in Eko Rail’s efforts to support the Governor’s transformation agenda for the city,” said David Potter, Eko Rail’s Chief Engineer. “Ultimately, the Blue Line, with this modernized fleet, will bring massive benefits to Lagos’ economic development and improve Lagosians’ quality of life.”
Each of the TTC cars come equipped with air conditioning, automatic sliding doors, solid-state traction control, energy saving regenerative braking, and a wide range of modern safety features and amenities. Once equipped with a state-of-the-art, GPS-based train control system made by General Electric, Eko Rail’s trains will provide faster, safer, cheaper and more reliable transportation for Lagosians.
Eko Rail is entering into an innovative public-private partnership with the government of Lagos State to equip, operate and maintain the Blue Line for 25 years. Negotiations are being finalized and a concession agreement is expected to be signed in the near future. Lagos State has already started to make significant progress with building the rail tracks and stations. Eko Rail is utilizing URS Scott Wilson, one of the world’s leading railway infrastructure consultancies, to ensure that the infrastructure is built to global standards.
With financing led by Investec Plc, financiers of more than 25 rail projects around the globe, Eko Rail expects to invest about $400 million to equip the Lagos Blue Line, including construction of a dual-fuel electric power generating station, modern train control system, communications and power distribution, as well as depot and maintenance facilities. When the entire line is operational, Eko Rail expects to attract at least 300,000 passengers per day, with trains running every 5 minutes.
The Eko Rail consortium – led by Nigerian-based emerging markets investment firm Verod Capital – brings together a world-class team of manufacturers, technical advisors, metro operators and public private partnership experts from the UK, Canada and South Africa.
SOURCE Eko Rail
culled from http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/433925#ixzz1ZRNHb3wp
All sounds good. However, maintenance should be given a high profile as the bane and undoing of most good ideas in Nigeria is the after care programme. The state of the ‘molue’ is a good example and this is just the bus. Our history of railway maintenance and operation leaves a lot to be desired.
Eko oni baje ‘o’. Lagos update, what has been happening to my update subcription? Is it blocked or something? cause i ve not been recieving my daily Lagos update for over two months plus. Help me put. I love to know what is happening wuthin my metropolitant ares (LAGOS)!
Thank you.
Future generations of Lagosians will remember BRF for achieving what used to be an impossible feat……. Your Excellency……”Oo ni subu daanu!”
Eko o ni baje!
It is great and gladdening that at last we are receiving updates again!
Mr Simon Adi is not alone in this for I thought I was too loud in making some comments and critique resulting in my subscription being blocked. Anyway, it is good news hearing or reading of the progress of the LRT and the incoming cars from all the way from Canada.
Kudos BRF and his forward looking team!
John M. O. Ekundayo
Alausa Ikeja
Lagos State
BRF, you are human being, God will reward your home and take you higher in all your endeavour. This is what make Italy transport system more better, you see and you are solving our problems.Thank you.
Am really full of joy that this is really happen in niger. God is in ur heart all the time with ur good work. God bless u fashola. Nigerians need to be living in a comfortable country. We need more people like u.
we tank GOD dat BRF standout among d leadrs, tank u 4 makin dis hapening in our lifetime. more grease 2 ur elbow. pls dont disconect m again 4m lagos update o. i need more of lagos update tanx.
wot a fantastic and sensible Governor you are Mr Raji Fashola…please can you wake up aso rock or the PDP , we need a DOUBLE GAUGE HIGH SPEED RAIL OF 160KM/HR CONNECTING LAGOS TO ABUJA…and LAGOS TO CALABAR…..i say this becos PDP such a visionless party, all they could boast of is the 1821 locomotive rail services, goodluck jonathan thinks he has commision last year….Nigeria deserve better than that my Governor this may attract your view interest, you may go through it http://www.gautrain.co.za or http://www.youtube.com/gautrainsocialmedia#p/u/1/qLlQ6UbxsNc this is what Nigeria want please , we shouldnt be giant of africa by mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/gautrainsocialmedia#p/u/1/qLlQ6UbxsNc
My able Governor, this above link i sent to you is a reality clip and many more clips from the south african gautrain network
if you will agree with me, this kind of railway infrastructure can provide nothing more than 200,000 jobs permanent and 50,000 jobs temporal.
i am a person that passionate with good and efficient railway transport mode of transportation.
we dont need this locomotive railway PDP led government commisioned last year…we need a world class high speed railway from
LAGOS TO IBADAN, OSHOGBO, ILORIN THEN ABUJA PROBABLY UP TO KANO
and
LAGOS TO IJEBU-ODE, ORE, BENIN-CITY , ASABA, UP TO CALABAR VIA ABA.
will be nice if you can forward this idea of mine to the presidency.
God bless you Sir.
Sir,
You are highly commended for the good job so far. May i humbly ask why work is yet to commence on the Red line?
God bless you Sir.
please our able governor we are in trouble of threat from one of the lagos state commissioner that they are going to demolish our houses that we ve been residing on for over 30 years that is around owokoniran, olaniyi, eniola area of idi oro in mushin. we have all our approved plans and c of o but yet our life and properties have been threatened pls help US OUR ABLE GOVERNOR ,they shld plss not kill our aged parent bcos this all their life establishment. we were told the demolishers are coming in tomorow 5th of october 2011 HELP SAVE OUR SOULS. we are citizen of lagos we shld not be deprived of our right from people in power
Your Excellency, i should start by appreciating your Love for our country, especially Lagos State,
Which you are the chief Executive. You are a Real Man of your Words sir, Eko O ni Baje .
As a great fans of yours, i will like to make an impute toward building or contributing my little quota regarding the issues of our deplorable
modes of transportation in our country, but my reference point is focused on the South-West part of the Nation.
The following Links maybe of interest to you and i think it will do our country a great favour if they buy the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/gautrainsocialmedia#p/u/1/qLlQ6UbxsNc
The above video clip, is the South African Modern High Speed Railway Transport called GAUTRAIN
Though the project cost maybe enormous but i think its worthwhile if the nation state of Nigeria can embark on such
job creating and important venture.
Your Excellency Sir, sometimes this year, the Action Congress of Nigeria, the party you belong on May1,2011
had its caucus meeting according to a newspaper reports from thisday newspapers, on its (ACN) intention to establish a regional development commission.
This is a welcome initiative and i do believe our aims and aspirations could be achievable in areas of Good roads network linking the entire cities across the region
and most importantly the Railway Services, http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/acn-plans-regional-development-commission-for-s-west-edo/90970/ .
If the second link above happens to be true, i will want to suggest , drastic step should be taken in other to actualize these laudable project;
like the rail, roads, massive housing like the one you recently commission in your domain of Lagos.
Having said that your excellency, our regions will be second to none and worthy of emulation.
Finally Sir, the last video clip you will be watching is about the $8.5 billion Dollars the former President Olusegun Obasanjo signed with the Chinese Construction Company (CECC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66XpNrRupEw in 2006. Sir what is wrong with these Project? Has the PDP led Government abandoned such a wonderful project?, if you agree with me, this is a project that will transform our railway transport network for life if such is built linking LAGOS up to KANO via ABUJA.
Your Excellency, you will never be forgotten , if you can spearhead the implementation of such project, because this will create nothing more than 500,000 jobs along that route alone (LAGOS-ABEOKUTA-IBADAN-OSHOGBO-ILORIN-MINNA- ABUJA/KADUNA -KANO). If it happens that ASO ROCK is not interested in ensuring the construction of such viable project, well it will be well said that you adviced them and they never listen. However, you can equally reach out to your other colleagues in the southwest region ( ACN – GOVERNORS ) on how to go about the transport transformation of our ailing roads and possibility to source for funds to construct a world class highways or motorways and world class standard gauge railways linking Lagos to Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Ore, and up to Benin City in Edo State
furthermore a link (train) from Lagos to abeokuta, ibadan , oshogbo, ilesha, akure and terminates in Ado-Ekiti. Aline could be connected to Auchi or other areas as agreed by interested parties involved in such deliberation towards realizing our objective and vision for the southwestern region of Nigeria.
Nigeria deserve a good leadership to take it to the promise land, and such a leader is your person Gov. Babatunde Fashola. If the power that be allows you, then , we need you to comeback in 2015 for the top office of the president By God Grace.
Once again my able Governor, you are a shining light to others, you shall succeed in all your endevours , Amen.
Why are Lagos updates coming in trickles. Who is responsible for this??? For Lagos updates to come in trickles is unacceptable. Congrats to Lagosians on this Light rail thing. Why has work not commenced on the Red line???
Fashola used to be a thing of pride to me and I used to happily tell people about the wonders Fashola was doing in Lagos but that has changed recently.
I wish I had the power to mobilise people and resources against the ACN in lagos. Fashola has apparently stopped working because lagos roads are in a very deplorable state. It is so unfortunate that Fashola could degenerate to such an extent. The ACN should please showcase to us what its LCDAs have done for the past 12 years .streets roads are impassable and even some major roads are nothing to write home about thus aggravating the chaotic traffic situtation in Lagos.
Dear BRF, nice work. Please note that we in Nigeria can design and build these trains. It is high time we look into designing products and making them In Nigeria. We need to get to the creation stage and start making products of our own. We have enough engineers that are capable of delivering these products. Home and away.
Until we start to make our own products we will always be behind and always buy end of line products. It is all about design and development. It is easy to do it just takes time. However with the latest design and development process, you can save plenty of money and speed design up by use of Computer Added Design, Computer Added Engineering and outsourcing. It is not difficult and it is a lot cheaper when tapping into the right channels, we can get universities to supply manpower and train engineers of the future with newer challenges of this present age. Design and Development is not a daunting task it has been made easy. Today you can design from start to finish without cutting or machining parts.
We can in Nigeria and we should. When will we make our own cars, Trains, Trucks, etc?
All can be done digitally. It is a lot easier today
Dear Governor, We thank God for a Governor like you and for all the great things and the transformation in the state, you are really doing a great work and we all can testify to it. keep up the good work, we are proud of you.
Please help us at AJELANWA, FATADE BUS STOP, BARUWA, IPAJA, It is always a serious problem on our hand each time it rains, we do not have drainage system and the street is always flooded as the water from other area round Baruwa flows into the street once it rains.
We are counting on our action and dependable Governor. Thank you and God keep helping you sir, Eko o ni bajeo.
I hope we’re not paying over the odds for Tokunboh trains but I applaud the initiative.
Eko o ni baje
Good move but why buy second-hand coaches that have been in service for decades and send them for refurbishment? If not for corruption, there is no reason why LASG cannot buy brand new coaches for its maiden rail service.
Your Excellency,
The Executive Governor,
Lagos State,
Nigeria.
IT IS JUST TOO BAD
That your member of Lagos State house of Assembly Hon. Mrs. Omowumi Olatunji Edet has decided to build house to block the JEMTOK end of BENSON OJUKWU STREET and your Ministries of Environment and Lagos State Land and Physical Planning had decided to turn the other way pretending not to see that action against the people of her Constituency.
We wish to let you know that;
1. There is a street sign there now.
2. That the street links JEMTOK to mile 2
3. That the street cuts the JEMTOK by 3km and one and half hours.
4. That house has not been built there now even though she used her O.P.C tugs led by one FATAYI whose men were armed with AK47 guns to make a siege on the inhabitants of that street that is why they were afraid to stop her when she was fencing across the street.
5. That if the road is opened, that all Lagosians will use it.
6. That children yet unborn will use it.
7. That is more honorable to people if a street is opened than if a street is closed.
8. That it is against your policy for people to block access road.
9. That her action is against the conscience of every human being, A.C.N party, A dent on your personality and programs.
10. Your Excellency please use your good office order to ask her to open the road for people to pass.
The photographs are as follows:-
This is to say a big thank you to his excellency B. Fashola for his effort on wanting to serve his people by bringing projects that will eleviate masses surferring.(an example of what leadership is all about).May God bless you and continue to grant you wisdom, knowledge and understanding.May the love, joy and peace of xmas be with you and your family. Looking forward to the arrival and working of the rail service in Nigeria.
pls. his excellency can you help us reduce the level of crime in the state.Masses are suffering daily at the hands of armed robbers and lives are wasted regularly.There are too many innocent blood being shedin the land.As God chosen man i imploy you to do something urgently especailly as we are going into the new year. God bless you.
It’s a good idea, if it will be properly implemented. U knw, our leaders are good at making fabulous promises and moves which with time will be swept under the carpet, especially, when such an avenue doesn’t give room for siphoning of funds. But if Fashola’s administration can get this working here in Lagos, it will just means that he has written his name with a golden pen, just like Jakande did.