LRT-1 rail line increases speed to 60 kph
MANILA, Philippines — The private operator of the Light Rail Transit-Line 1 disclosed Monday that it had secured a safety certification that the LRT-1 can now lift the restriction of 40 kilometers per hour and safely run at a faster speed.
In a statement, the Light Rail Manila Corp. announced that the LRT-1 will run at a maximum speed of 60 kph beginning Monday as LRMC has completed all relevant improvement activities needed for the 36-year-old railway system.
The certification, the rail operator said, came from a "from a reputable international testing facility" that it did not name. It added that it tapped the "international partner to assess, perform verificatory tests, and identify the corrective works needed to be in agreement with European standards."
According to the LRMC, this is expected to result in a shorter trip time from Baclaran to Balintawak and vice-versa as well as increase the daily number of trips made by LRT-1 trains.
"The LRT-1 system is designed for a maximum service speed of 60 kph, but the speed was reduced to 40 kph in 2011 due to the deteriorating condition of its tracks and uncertainties in the railway subsystems such as rolling stock (railway vehicles), power distribution, and signaling system," LRMC said.
"All these upgrading works also serve to complement the team’s preparations for the commercial service of our new Gen-4 trains in the latter part of the year," Enrico Benipayo, LRMC chief operating officer, also said in the statement.
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This comes a day after the rail line announced it would be dispatching 17 trains in its limited run and on shortened hours from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for the remainder of the ECQ's extension.
Affected passengers will be accommodated by augmented buses running on Route 17 plying Monumento-EDSA, the transportation department said at a virtual press conference Sunday.
It did not, however, mention how many additional buses would be deployed on that route, and the LRMC was not represented at the briefing.
"The shortened operating hours from April 5, 2021 onwards will also allow LRMC to perform safety and integration tests for the upgrading of the LRT-1 signaling system, as well as prepare for the commercial run of our new Gen-4 trains in the last quarter of the year," LRMC, the rail line's private operator, said in an advisory.
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— Franco Luna
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