News
Sanwo-Olu Warns Vandals Against Stealing Parts From Lagos Blue Rail As It Will Be Powered By ‘Electricity’
Sanwo-Olu says residents won’t be able to vandalise, steal parts from Lagos Blue Rail tracks cos it will be powered by ‘Electricity’.
The Blue Line use EMUs, which is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power.
Sanwo-Olu made this during a facility tour of the project which is now at 90 per cent completion.
He also disclosed that the Lagos State Government will acquire additional two sets of four train coaches in September.
The Governor further gave the reassurance that Lagosians would ride a train on the rail by the first quarter of 2023.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says it will be dangerous for anyone to go near the tracks of the new Lagos Blue Rail Line when in operation as it will be powered by electricity.
He said that the Blue Line will be using Electric Multiple Units (EMUs), which is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power.
Sanwo-Olu made this known on Sunday while speaking to journalists during an inspection of ongoing works on the Blue Line rail project and stations at the National Theatre Iganmu, Orile, Suru Alaba, Mile 2 and Marina axis of the state.
The Governor urged journalists to help drum the dangers into the ears of Lagosians, especially as vandals have started tampering with parts of the facility.
He said :
“The next major activity that needs to happen on the Blue Line is what we call the third rail. The third rail is the power that will now be activated on this rail track.
“The Blue Line, for emphasis, will be running what we call an EMU. It’s going to be an electric motor vehicle. The trains are going to be running on electricity, so they need to have power on the rail tracks.
“So that’s why, we are getting to a stage where there has to be a lot of advocacy, there has to be a lot of information, communication onto the citizens, especially where the track was on grid.
“From Orile Station up until Mile 2, you know that it was at grid level, meaning that it was at ground level and if you have a track at ground level that is electric, you’ve seen that we’ve wired off all the alignment, but you see, a lot of our citizens that do not know, they’ve started breaking all of the rails that we have done there.
“We will go back there and fix it and there has to be a lot of enforcement, a lot of advocacy, because by the end of the year, when this track starts, they are electric tracks, they are going to be running on electricity and you will know that citizens or passengers or anybody whatsoever cannot walk on those things.
“So gentlemen of the press, you have that responsibility for now, we’ll begin to mention that, for the next six months, eight months, we need to mention that this track, it’s not like the Red Line, the Red Line is DMU, but the Blue Line is EMU. So these are some of the communications that we need to pass out about the electric train lines.”
During the facility tour of the project which is now at 90 per cent completion, Sanwo-Olu also disclosed that the Lagos State Government will acquire additional two sets of four train coaches in September. He further gave the reassurance that Lagosians would ride a train on the rail by the first quarter of 2023.
