The Federal Government has announced the commencement of Commercial Operations on the Lagos-Ibadan rail line.

The Presidency in a Tweet on Monday said the commercial operations has commenced, while formal commissioning will be held in the first quarter of 2020.

Also, the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi via his official Twitter handle said the rail line has commenced operation “with only one trip return” for now.

“For now, according to the NRC, only one return trip daily, leaving Ibadan at 8:00 am for Lagos and leaving Lagos for Ibadan at 4:00 pm,” Ogunlesi said.

Ogunlesi in his tweet added that the “Speed and capacity will increase with time,” because, “there’s still some construction work ongoing.”

“The launch train for #LagosIbadanRail commercial operations left Ibadan at 0800hrs this morning, arrived Abeokuta 0858, and departed Abeokuta 0903. It has just arrived Ebute Metta, Lagos, at 1040hrs.

“For now it’s doing 30-40km/hr in Lagos metropolis

CEREMONY

Also, Ogunfeyintimi Abayomi became the first Lagos-Ibadan Train Service’s (LITS) customer, on Tuesday, 8th December, by arriving at Moniya in Ibadan before 8am to board a train to Ebutte-Meta in Lagos, after paying N2,500.

Moreso, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, last week, while speaking in Abuja at the inauguration of elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA), disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will commission the newly constructed Lagos-Ibadan rail line by January 2021.

The Lagos-Ibadan railway, one of the major projects embarked on by the Federal Government, is being handled by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).