soloqy:

Murtaza Haider, director of the Institute of Housing and Mobility at Ryerson University, said the age of the cars is definitely a cause for concern.

“We should be ensuring that there is some service life left in these vehicles and we’re not going to be playing havoc with the lives of those who would ride these vehicles,” Haider said. “There’s metal fatigue, and that metal fatigue could result in dangerous conditions. I would be paying a close watch on this for the next ten years to see how many accidents do happen in Lagos.”

If the above quote from those who have inside info on this deal is anything to go by, then whether $1,500 or not, they are not good enough for Lagos.

The Lagos State government owes you absolutely nothing, fulani.

Go and face your polio-infested, poverty stricken, Boko Haramified, "allahu akbar" states.

Surely your expertise would prove valuable to that part of the country.

A TTC spokesperson has confirmed that the commission is negotiating with a private group to sell up to 260 used train cars to the West African megacity’s new transit project.

“I can confirm that the TTC is in discussion with a third party that wants to purchase trains for Lagos,” said commission spokesperson Brad Ross. “Over a period of time, they will be taken out of service and then transported over to Nigeria.”

The cars being considered for sale are the TTC’s old H-5 and H-6 models, which will be decommissioned as the TTC rolls out its new fleet of Rockets. Ross predicts the earliest they could be shipped to Nigeria is sometime in 2012.

enyhss:

Quoting the Article, The Toronto Transit Commission's spokesperson, ''Brad Ross, though declined to discuss specific figures, he says the ''STICKER'' price for Lagos is '' SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN THE SCRAP PRICES'' putting the TTC profits in the millions of dollars''. Please, this is very straightforward. How do you spin this.? Bear in mind that these Coaches are said to have been ''DECOMMISSIONED" & when they reach this stage, ''they are usually sold for Scrap Metals'' .Take note of the key words here : Decommissioned, Scrap metals!

Let me delve into the scrap-metal aspect a little. If I, an Individual approaches a company or organisation like TTC, to purchase these coaches, & they tell me they usually sell them for as high as CDN 1500/coach to scrap metal buyers/ Dismantlers & Recyclers. Since I'm ready to buy up to 260 coaches, I think you would agree with me that I shouldn't pay up to CDN 1500/coach because of the quantity involve, regardless of what I intend to use it for. So why should anybody, Lagos state or PPP or whoever that may be pay ''SIGNIFICANTLY MORE'' for it? The article says the Commission's profits will be in Millions of Dollars. Whereas, the total cost of 260 Coaches multiply by CDN 1500 equals CDN 390,000.00. Where does the difference go?

I hope you will agree with me that the Toronto Transit Commission sells these coaches with Caveat; that they (seller) are not required to meet any & or perform any safety standards & regulations before selling them off to Eko Rail.

Also, Its been gathered that ''these coaches, due to their age, requires much more frequent maintenance work than the new ones''. So, wouldn't it be a better route to go If we decide to go for something that doesn't require frequent maintenance, owing to our maintenance culture or lack thereof.

I read with disgust and utter disappointment in Gov Fashola a newspaper report in far away Canada. How on earth could he order scraps as trains for lagosians use. Rather crazy. Read and comment please.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/mobile/#story.cfm?c=182186

This to me seems a better choice than buying expensive new cars. You can google NL for a previous thread where the amount of money Toronto is spending on their new cars is stated. That number simply is not affordable by Lagos. Again, buying brand new cars means substantially higher fares.

baby-boy:

For the money they are spending they are better off buying  new rolling stocks am sorry buying refurbished stocks doesnt worth it, the main fact here is that we are buying a stock has used almost all of its required life-span, for what? to use for another year before it packs up,  I have worked in the rail industry for almost 10 years and I know the knid of work the engineers do in the depot and on the track during engineering hours!

Kobojunkie:


Any idea how much it costs for a new light rail system? I mean per mile/km? I ask because I see the state is already investing billions in the project so this is not necessarily a question of "THERE IS NO MONEY" as many of our usual suspects are quick to throw out whenever Lagos is involved.

I believe the question should be, "why is govt buying the trains in the first place". I believe all govt needs to do is build the rail lines, give it to private individuals to manage, knowing govt's track record at managing things and then get private individuals both foreign and local to put the trains on the rails. And then govt regulates what happens. Because we would watch this investment go down the drain like every other govt venture in the country,

baby-boy:

Spot on, Private investors would buy the rolling stock, provide staffs to manage both train and station, then the Government set rules and regulation each stakeholder would meet including the fleets, but the Lagos would still have to manage the rails, points, and surrounding and signals more like maintaining everything

if you go through the thread, you find that that is the exact scenario in place

dude haba na

if you give a contractor a contract to build a house for you, will you not pay periodic inspections to ensure you are getting your money's worth?

baby-boy:


So are you saying the old bangers or scrap were not recommended by fashola but he is only inspecting them

oyb:


the way u are going i am beginning to doubt that you actually do work as you have been claiming

i don't think it is too hard for you to figure out that eko rail would have provided several options during thier design brief - as is  standard practice in engineering projects. taking ROI and available resources into the consideration your 'old bangers' are the best choice at present.

seriously, its irritating listening to smug westerners and their empty blather about only the latest is good enough for us. it would probably be better if this project was pushed back until 2055 when we can secure funding for the latest and greatest trains. the sort of powerpoint imf mentality that prevails in our federal government, which is why nothing ever leaves their drawing board .

i'm an engineer in nigeria, and prudent recycling to drive down costs is simply a fact of life. you lot should try it sometime, maybe the future would not look so bleak

Dauchman:

I believe the question should be, "why is govt buying the trains in the first place". I believe all govt needs to do is build the rail lines, give it to private individuals to manage, knowing govt's track record at managing things and then get private individuals both foreign and local to put the trains on the rails. And then govt regulates what happens. Because we would watch this investment go down the drain like every other govt venture in the country.

velo10:

Nigeria too like tokunbo, our dull leaders inclusive.

Kobojunkie:

The same meagre-earnings argument never comes up when the same government goes to purchase fleet of cars in the millions, give gifts from tax-payer money, huh?? Matter of fact, we have never read a story of the state being so broke as to purchase old cars of this grade to rebuild it for it's workers to use. So I think rather than continue to dole out that ridiculous reason, we need to inquire as to the real reason for such a purchase. 

For pete's sake, the project is estimated in the Billions of dollars, definitely not a train system on a shoestring budget as some would like for us to believe. If we are already going that far, then it makes sense to inquire as to why we are going for scrap grade when it comes to purchasing the cars. 

I mean this is the same question from page one, and almost 10 pages later, nothing in the line of more details from the TTC side of this but not much else from the Lagos/Eko Atlantic side of this story except Nigerian news clippings on what MIGHT be happening, and a load of assumptions being painted as fact, in the usual attempts to shut people up about yet another project that will be payed for by tax-payers.

Kobojunkie:

The same meagre-earnings argument never comes up when the same government goes to purchase fleet of cars in the millions, give gifts from tax-payer money, huh?? Matter of fact, we have never read a story of the state being so broke as to purchase old cars of this grade to rebuild it for it's workers to use. So I think rather than continue to dole out that ridiculous reason, we need to inquire as to the real reason for such a purchase. 

For pete's sake, the project is estimated in the Billions, definitely not a train system on a shoestring budget as some would like for us to believe. If we are already going that far, then it makes sense to inquire as to why we are going for scrap grade when it comes to purchasing the cars. 

I mean this is the same question from page one, and almost 10 pages later, nothing in the line of more details from the TTC side of this but not much else from the Lagos/Eko Atlantic side of this story except Nigerian news clippings on what MIGHT be happening, and a load of assumptions being painted as fact, in the usual attempts to shut people up about yet another project that will be payed for by tax-payers.

Kobojunkie:

The same meagre-earnings argument never comes up when the same government goes to purchase fleet of cars in the millions, give gifts from tax-payer money, huh?? Matter of fact, we have never read a story of the state being so broke as to purchase old cars of this grade to rebuild it for it's workers to use. So I think rather than continue to dole out that ridiculous reason, we need to inquire as to the real reason for such a purchase.  For pete's sake, the project is estimated in the Billions, definitely not a train system on a shoestring budget as some would like for us to believe. If we are already going that far, then it makes sense to inquire as to why we are going for scrap grade when it comes to purchasing the cars. 

koruji:

You and others think you know the condition of the cars coming to Lagos based on two "heroic" assumptions:
1) That the cars are 30+ years old; 2) That the cars are scrap grade.