Light Rail Manila Corp., the operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1, said it completed the rehabilitation of Doroteo Jose Station which will serve a daily average of 27,000 passengers.

Doroteo Jose station is the pilot for the company’s P500-million station improvement project, which will include the enhancement of passenger exchange and the advertising environment.

“With the increased number of light rail vehicles and additional commercial trips, the station improvement project is another significant component to improve the efficiency of the LRT-1 system for the safety, comfort and convenience of around 450,000 passengers daily across all 20 stations,” LRMC president and chief executive Rogelio Singson said.

The station improvement project covers the redesign, structural repair, replacement of lighting fixtures, repainting, restoration of elevators and escalators and general cleaning of LRT-1 stations. Refurbishment of Doroteo Jose began in December 2015. Rehabilitation of other stations followed, including Edsa, Central, Gil Puyat, Pedro Gil, United Nations, R. Papa and Abad Santos.

Singson said the stations needed to be rehabilitated to handle the increasing passengers.

LRMC earlier won the P65-billion LRT Line 1 extension project, with a premium bid of P9.35 billion in September 2014.

LRMC is responsible for the construction of the 11.7-kilometer extension from the present end point in Baclaran to the Niog area in Bacoor, Cavite.

It will consist of elevated guideways throughout most of the alignment, except for the guideway section at Zapote which will be located at grade. It will consist of the satellite depot and new station.

The extended rail line is expected to help increase the capacity of LRT 1 from 500,000 to 800,000 passengers daily and benefit more than four million residents in the southern part of Metro Manila and of Cavite.

Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. controls 55 percent of the consortium while AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. has 35 percent. Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte Ltd. owns 10 percent.

03 February 2017
By Darwin G. Amojelar