A workable common station to link the two rail systems is taking long to finish.
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo way back in 2010 famously asked the question: “Where’s my loop?”
The former chief executive was referring to the loop, or the link connecting LRT-1 line with MRT-3 on EDSA. The loop and the common station would have integrated Metro Manila’s railway network and created seamless travel for thousands of Metro Mania commuters.
Mrs. Arroyo back then was optimistic of the loop. “By making it convenient because it’s O-shaped, you don’t have to go down and take another transport. You can go anywhere and get off anywhere, and you just take the transport for your final destination,” she said.
Over a decade and half later, the rail loop is nowhere to be found and the common station linking LRT-1 and MRT-3 remains a pipe dream.
The loop project and the integrated operations of the two railway systems appear to have encountered a road block. Former officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) cannot make up their minds on how to proceed with the integration.
Some technical issues are also delaying the project implementation. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) offered its help and recommended the interoperability of the two lines. The two trains would start from Monumento before turning back to the mainline of LRT-1 at Pasay Rotonda.
Feasibility tests were conducted with LRT-1 trains visiting the MRT 3 depot facilities and running on the entire line.
But a workable common station to link the two rail systems is taking long to finish. Commuters still have to go down from the Fernando Poe Jr. (Roosevelt) station of LRT Line 1 and walk over or take a tricycle or jeepney ride for the one-kilometer distance to the North Avenue station of MRT Line 3.
The then Department of Transportation and Communications (the predecessor of the DOTr) in 2011 attempted to bid out an operations and maintenance contract for the two lines.
More than 24 companies expressed interest to bid, including Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) of Indonesia’s Salim Group, Bombardier Transportation, CAF, DMCI Holdings Inc. and Sumitomo Corp. The DOTr halted the auction process and later shelved it.
MPIC revived the proposal to integrate the LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3 in June 2024. The current DOTr endorsed MPIC’s offer to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center.
The loop is viable only if the common station is available. But the latter is far from finished.
The DOTr just last week terminated the contract of BF Corp. and Foresight Development and Surveying Co. (BFC-FDSC), a company founded by late Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando.
Th DOTr rescinded the deal to build the common station, known as the Unified Grand Central Station (Common Station) project, because of excessive construction delays.
The termination followed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to speed up and finally complete the construction of the common station, which had been ongoing since 2009, to ease and reduce travel time for commuters.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said the common station, which also seeks to link LRT-1, MRT-3 and MRT-7 of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., could have already benefited commuters if not for the construction delay.
The P2.8-billion station features a 13,700-square meter concourse area, which will seamlessly interconnect the rail lines of LRT-1, MRT-3, MRT-7 and the much-awaited Metro Manila Subway.
The Common Station project has been stalled since 2009 but former Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade settled the dispute on the location leading to its groundbreaking in September 2017.
Another terminal
The DOTr, perhaps, should also revisit an alternative central station for bus and other public vehicles in the northern part of Metro Manila to improve the commuting experience of Filipinos.
The project, dubbed the North Integrated Transport System, or North ITS Project, is supposed to remove the provincial bus terminals that have been choking traffic in major thoroughfares, including EDSA. But it is gathering dust.
Secretary Dizon should prioritize the project and speed up its construction. The North ITS Project is a promising solution to Metro Manila’s traffic congestion.
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