LAMATA blames mechanical fault for Red Line Rail suspension

Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) has linked the recent suspension of red line rail operation to mechanical faults. Spokesperson for the agency, Mr Kola Ojelabi, in a chat with The Guardian, said the line is having a mechanical issue that is why it’s not operating.

Asked when the red line will resume operations, he said the engineers are working on it, adding that they will resume when the engineers’ advice the fault has been resolved.

Meanwhile, The Guardian gathered that the operations of the train service ran into troubled waters last week. Many passengers observed mechanical failure on the morning belt of the train service last Monday.

A passenger who boarded the train from Iju, but doesn’t want to be named, said they were told that the train had developed a mechanical fault and when they got to Mushin, all passengers were instructed to disembark, as the train could no longer move. Another passenger, Emmanuel Ajadi, said he was turned back at Agege Train Station last Tuesday by station workers, who said the train was not in operation.

Same day, operators of the Red Line had in a terse statement posted on the LRMT WhatsApp channel created the same day, indicated that the break would affect only the morning belt, saying the afternoon belt would still run.

On the Whatsapp Channel deleted last Friday, the operator stated: “Please note that only the 5:20p.m. and 6:50p.m. train from Oyingbo and 6:40p.m. train from Agbado will run today.” Checks revealed that both services pledged for that evening never ran.

By 9:19p.m. same Tuesday, the operator confirmed it wasn’t able to operate as promised when it sent the below message: “We sincerely apologise for the cancellation of service this evening, which was due to mechanical faults. Kindly note that the train will not be operating tomorrow, and until further notice. We deeply regret this situation.”

The Red Line began commercial operation on October 15, eight months after it was inaugurated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on February 29.The service took off with two services at the morning and two at evening peaks, culminating in four shuttles per day, which it intends to upscale as operations improve on the corridor, which is projected to be a major cash cow with the huge population of passengers transiting from Agbado to Oyingbo.

Checks indicated that the train service had until the suspension of operation has been running at below carriage capacity, as many have complained about the high cost of trips, put end-to-end at N1500 per trip (from Oyingbo-Agbado or from Agbado-Oyingbo), while the narrow gauge train operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation on the same corridor for the same trip costs N750.

The Red Line, which started commercial operation on its 27km first phase, was operated by First Metro, under the guidance of the LAMATA. The service is projected to carry about 500,000 passengers daily and about 1.5 million daily at the completion of the second phase, which will see the service terminate at Onikan, from where it will join the state’s premier mass transit, the Lagos Blue Line.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had while launching its operation assured Lagosians of timely service on the train, as travel time would be reduced to between 30 and 45 minutes end-to-end. He said the 25 per cent rebate regime on public transportation announced by the government would also be observed on the train.