Lagos rail network expansion

After receiving a permanent operating licence in early July 2026, LAMATA confirmed its partnership with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to operate a Railway Training Centre. The centre will deliver classroom, simulation and hands‑on programmes aimed at supplying a skilled domestic workforce for the Red and Blue Lines and the planned extensions that will grow the system from six to eleven rail lines plus a monorail, as outlined in the Lagos State Government’s updated Strategic Transport Master Plan. Over 400 staff have already been trained for the existing lines, achieving more than 90 % local staffing on the Blue Line.

In late July, LAMATA unveiled a broader 21st‑century rail proposal within an integrated transport master plan intended to alleviate Lagos’s chronic road congestion. The plan envisions a multimodal network that combines rail, road and water transport to cut travel times, lower household transport costs and boost metropolitan productivity. The railway component remains central to the strategy, with the training centre positioned to support the workforce needs of the expanded network.

Together, the licensing, training partnership and master‑plan rollout illustrate Lagos’s coordinated effort to build a sustainable, locally‑staffed rail system that underpins wider urban mobility reforms and industrialisation goals under the China‑Africa Vocational Education Plan.