Just as the new Toronto Rocket trains start rolling in the subway tunnels, the TTC’s old cars are about to start moving right out of the city.

A company called Eko Rail has a deal to buy 255 H5 and H6 cars from the TTC to furnish a 27-kilometre surface rail line in Lagos, Nigeria.

The TTC cars are being gradually retired as the new Rockets come online.

The price for the cars is still under negotiation, according to TTC spokesman Brad Ross.

The first of the H5s is supposed to be trucked out of the Wilson yard to the U.S. next week where it will undergo an engineering evaluation.

The interiors of the cars will be refurbished and they will be converted to run on international track gauge, said London, England-based Michael Schabas, who is working with Eko Rail, the company expected to operate the Lagos line.

The Toronto-born Schabas toured the TTC with Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola in May.

The H5s have been around since 1977 and 1980. The H6s date to 1986 and 1990. They were built by the Urban Transportation Development Corp., in Thunder Bay, which later became part of Bombardier.

The H4 cars, which are not air conditioned, are not being sold. They will be scrapped, said Ross.

It is not unusual for subway cars to be recycled. Seoul and Beijing cars have both had second lives in other cities.

The TTC announced in 2009 that there was an interested buyer for the H5 and H6 cars but it did not disclose where the subways might be heading.

Lagos has a population of about 15 million people and is expected to grow to about 25 million in the next decade. The new Blue line metro is expected to be running in about three years, said Schabas.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

There are three Toronto Rockets already running on the Yonge subway line. They feature open gangways that allow riders to see and walk the entire length of the train. They also accommodate about 10 per cent more riders than the T1 subways, which will be moving to the Bloor-Danforth line.

Combined with a new computerized signaling system called automatic train control, the Rockets are expected to increase the Yonge line’s capacity by up to 30 per cent.