By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

lagos—The Minister for Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the proposed Lagos-Ibadan segment of Lagos-Kano rail line project will be ready and operational within the next two and half years. Also to be ready within the projected period, Amachi said is the Port Harcourt-Calabar rail line. Both rail lines will, daily, move thousands of passengers across the affected cities.

Amaechi, who disclosed this at a lecture series, themed; “Migrating workforce: the challenges of mass transportation,” organised by the Lagos Traffic Radio, at  Ikeja, said the aim is to reduce the current pressure on road infrastructure with resultant accidents and avoidable loss of lives and property.

He also directed the Railway Command of the Nigeria Police Force to stop forthwith, the practice of passengers hanging on moving trains to avoid loss f lives.

In his contribution, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, highlighting plans by the state government to grow the sector, said an inter-modal transportation master plan is already being implemented to link the rail, road and water such that by 2032, no resident of Lagos will need to walk more than 500 metres from his home to board any means of transportation.

Mobereola said apart from the blue line rail ongoing on Orile-Mile 2 corridor, six other light rail systems and a monorail line had been identified, with 20 water routes, 14 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and 450 routes for high capacity buses.