THE Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) project is due for test runs in April and for full passenger operations in December next year, Department of Transportation said yesterday.
The DOTr presented the rail line’s brand-new train sets yesterday following their arrival from South Korea in September.
At present, six train sets or 18 rail cars out of the 108 rail cars have been shipped already. The entire MRT-7 system will have a total of 36 train sets or 108 rail cars.
For a cleaner look, MRT-7 trains will use a “third rail” electrification system, instead of the overhead catenary lines common in LRT-1 and MRT-3.
The 24.7 km rail line’s overall progress rate is now at 62.10 percent. Once completed, it is expected to accommodate around 300,000 passengers daily in its first year of operations.
SMC installs second batch of MRT-7 trains, targets opening by end-2022
The project is eyed for test runs starting in April 2022 and passenger operations in December 2022, DOTr secretary Arthur Tugade said.
Once completed, the 22-kilometer railway will link North Avenue, Quezon City and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, reducing travel time from the present two to three hours to just 35 minutes. The project is also expected to serve 38,000 passengers during peak hours daily.
The MRT-7 unsolicited proposal was first submitted to the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in August 2001, while the concession agreement was signed in August 2008.
Stagnant for almost two decades, the actual construction of the MRT-7 project started only in August 2016.
MRT-7 gets new train setsThe MRT-7 Project forms part of the Duterte administration’s flagship “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure development program which aims to ease traffic congestion and spur growth in the country’s economy.
By Ben Gines Jr.
December 17, 2021
