Gov't allots P203M for LRT 1 rehab

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is spending P203 million to rehabilitate and repair light rail vehicles to service and maintain a smooth operations of the Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT) from Roosevelt in the North and Baclaran in the South.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is inviting bidders for the project that involves the rehabilitation of 21 trains and the repair of two more trains for the “Green Line.”

Outgoing secretary Mar Roxas said in a statement that the project is part of the P1.062 billion LRT safety, reliability and capacity improvement program of the DOTC to rehabilitate key components of the LRT system.

The procurement program aligns with the DOTC master plan to reengineer the Philippines’ transport system to make it convenient, affordable, reliable, efficient, and safe.

The government would spend P150 million to rehabilitate 21 dilapidated BN brand of light rail vehicles.

“The car bodies of these 21 units have corroded and rusted out from the 14 years of use since they were last rehabilitated. Rehabilitation should bring an improved appearance and reliability to the old BN cars,” the DOTC said

Furthermore, another P53 million would be used to restore two third generation Kinki-Sharyo light rail vehicles involved in separate train collision incidents in Balintawak and Roosevelt that need body repair and replacement of damaged parts to put them in operational condition.

The Green Line is a 20.7-kilometer, 20-station railway system serves about 500,000 commuters.

It also connects with existing train systems; Line 1 commuters can transfer from Doroteo Jose Station to Line 2’s (Blue Line) Recto Station, while line 3 (Yellow Line) passengers have easy access with Line 1’s EDSA-Taft Station.

The DOTC earliner gave interested bidders in the proposed P60 billion Light Rail Transit extension to Cavite more time to prepare their bids as the deadline for the bidding has been extended by a month.

The Cavite extension project would increase the span of Line 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 kilometers and will have a new south endpoint in Niog, Bacoor, Cavite. The extension includes eight stations (with provision for two future stations), 10.5 kilometers of viaduct, support beams, and 3 intermodal facilities.

Approximately 10.5 kilometers of the Cavite Extension System would be elevated and 1.2 kilometers would be at grade level. The government has set aside P30 billion to acquire up to 39 new Light Rail Vehicles for this project.

The extension would open up the Line 1 services to the nearly four million residents of Parañaque, Las Piñas, and the Province of Cavite.

The Manila Line 1 project would bid out the operations and maintenance of the existing LRT Line 1 system, the construction of the Line 1 Cavite Extension, and the O&M of both existing and extension as an integrated system.

The construction of the tracks, the stations and all its attendant facilities, as well as O&M, worth about P30 billion, would be bidded out. The other half of the P60-billion project, which includes the purchase of the coaches, would come from the government through official development assistance (ODA).