No more ‘sweaty’ LRT rides

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) vowed there would be no more hot and sweaty rides for passengers of the LRT Line 1, saying efforts to install airconditioning units on all trains are right on schedule.

LRTA Administrator Teddy Cruz Jr. said all the original 63 light rail vehicles (LRVs) would be airconditioned by early next year.

He said to date, 39 LRVs or 60 percent of the running fleet of 65 LRVs have aircon units. Of the 39, 15 are the original non-aircon vehicles and 24 are the Adtranz type or those, purchased from South Korea in 1998, were equipped with air conditioners.

Cruz said the undertaking is part of the ongoing Capacity Expansion Project Package B of the LRTA.

Intended to upgrade passenger services, the capacity expansion project, one of the commitments of President Arroyo in her July 2001 State of the Nation Address (SONA), is composed of two packages.

Package A involves the enhancement of the civil works and other related transportation components of the Monumento to Baclaran line, while Package B is the airconditioning of the 63 original LRVs.

"With three BNs (monicker for the non-aircon LRVs) installed with aircon units every two weeks, we would achieve our goal of providing our passengers with a cool and comfortable ride in all our trains by April 2004," Cruz said.

Engr. Rodrigo Bulario, OIC of the Operations and Engineering Department, said 30 aircon technicians have been hired to facilitate the proejct. "With six LRVs targeted in a month, we would have 42 airconditioned BNs by December. That means six more to go before our target date of April 2004. – Rainier Allan Ronda