Japan agency completes Metro transit study

MANILA, Philippines - The Japanese government’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has finished a study on a “medium capacity transit system” for east Metro Manila.  The study proposes an automated guideway transit (AGT) line running from V. Mapa in Manila through Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City and the Ortigas central business district in Pasig, and then to Taytay City in Rizal province.

The proposed AGT line will allow a travel time of approximately 37 minutes from V. Mapa to Taytay City.

Using data from the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integrated Study (MMUTIS) funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The daily ridership is estimated at 230,600 in the  first year of operation in 2023. After 10 years, the ridership is estimated to reach  377,500 passengers daily.

The study team proposed the line to have 24 trains or a total of 144 cars in its first five years of operation, and then 31 trains in or 186 cars starting in the sixth year up to 2052.

Operation and maintenance cost for the line in its first year is the projected at $24 million.

The 17-page study titled Medium Capacity Transit System Project in Metro Manila stated that the proposed 18.4-kilometer, 12 station AGT line will cost $1.381 billion or P58.570 million, to construct including the purchase of additional rolling stock  in the fifth year of commercial operations in 2028.

The project is projected to run for 36 years, with the actual construction of the rail line seen to start at 2017 and finished by 2022, or a construction period of six years.

Japan’s METI commissioned theirJapan Transport Planning Association, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd., and TOSTEMS, Inc., to undertake the study.

The study team had considered three options: 1) Santa Mesa-Boni Ave.-Ortigas CBD- Taytay City; 2) V.Mapa- Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas CBD-Taytay; and 3) Gilmore-Ortigas Avenue-Taytay City.

The study team had also considered several system options: a bus rapid transit system, a monorail system, an elevated light rail transit system, an AGT line, and a conventional railway system.

Taking into consideration various factors such as projected ridership, train configuration; space considerations, construction cost, environmental impact (noise) and even emergency situations, the AGT line was found by the study team as an excellent choice, the BRT as poor, the monorial, the elevated LRT and the conventional railway options as “fair.”

The proposed line is envisioned to have an elevated section of 16.2 kilometers, and an underground section of 2.2 kilometers in the V. Mapa, Manila area.

The study said the train configuration will be six-car trains with each train having a capacity of 792 passengers or 132 passengers per car.

With the completion of the study, the next step for Mandaluyong City, which is spearheading the effort to plan an efficient mode of public transportation in east Metro Manila, is to pursue a “full-blown”feasibility study that will lay down an implementation program as well as an environmental impact assessment on the construction of such a line along the proposed alignment.

It was learned that JICA jas already expressed an interest in funding the conduct of such a feasibility study.

The study results had been presented to the local government officials in the covered cities namely Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Cainta and Taytay City, and all have expressed support for the project. However, Mandaluyong City’s Mayor Benhur Abalos has called for a reconfiguration of the proposed line in the Shaw Boulevard section, changing it from an elevated plan to an underground, subway-type line.