On the 30th of August, the Lagos State Government announced that the Blue Line Rail will commence on the 4th of September 2023. This rail will move from Marina to Mile 2.

On Tuesday, the Managing Director, of Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority while speaking at the Blue Rail Line Terminal in Marina, said that the Governor of Lagos State was expected to be the first passenger at exactly 9 a.m. on Monday. She also stated that partial passenger operations would begin on Tuesday, the 5th of September from 6:30 am to 10 am, for the morning peak; and the afternoon peak, from 4 pm to 9:30 pm.

The partial operations, according to Akinajo will start with 12 trips for two weeks, which will later be increased to up to 76 trips per day. 

As stated, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu arrived at Blue Line Rail and flagged off its commercial operations in the state. He implored the guests to behave in an orderly manner as well as obey the instructions to make the journey smooth.

He also boarded one of the Blue Line Rail trains at 9:07 a.m. as a signal to the commencement of commercial operations on the state’s intra-city train service.  

Six minutes later, at 9:13 a.m., the train taxied with Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat; permanent secretaries, political leaders, and some passengers on board the train. 25 minutes later, the train was at the Mile 2 station despite stopping for two minutes each at the National Theatre, Orile, and Alaba train stations.

Sanwo-Olu, who thanked President Bola Tinubu for putting in place the intermodal transportation master plan for the state, which included rail, water, and road infrastructure, said with the completion and kick-off of commercial operations of the Blue Line Rail, the Red Line Rail project would be commissioned by the President.

He said the commissioning would be done before the end of the year. He also disclosed that train stations and bridges built along with the Red Line rail project would be commissioned by the first week of October.