MANILA, Philippines – The good news? Five new LRT1 stations will be open to the public beginning Saturday, November 16, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said. The bad news? No free rides.
Marcos, along with Bautista, Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla and other government officials, inaugurated the first phase of the LRT1 Cavite Extension on Friday, November 15. This is the first completed railway project under the Marcos Jr. administration.
From Baclaran, here is a list of the newly-opened stations:
- Redemptorist-Aseana
- Manila International Airport
- Asia World/Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange
- Ninoy Aquino Avenue
- Dr. Santos
“For commuters, we’re expecting around 80,000 a day will ride our trains through the five stations,” Bautista told reporters in mixed English and Filipino on Friday. “This is equivalent to around 6,000 to 8,000 cars.”
Commuters from south of the metro will be able to hop on Dr. Santos Station — the new end of the southbound line located near SM Sucat — in case they want to travel as far as Quezon City to celebrate payday weekend. Marcos said the new stations will help cut travel time to Quezon City by an hour.
A single journey ticket from Dr. Santos to Ninoy Aquino Avenue station costs P15, while an end-to-end ticket costs P45.
The test rides which traversed all five new stations on Friday took nine minutes to and about 12 minutes going back from Redemptorist-Aseana to Dr. Santos Station. The new stations cover about 6.1 kilometers.
The P77.7-billion LRT1 Cavite Extension project was funded through a hybrid public-private partnership. This also financed 30 four-car 4th Generation Light Rail Vehicles for the whole LRT1 line.
Aside from the five new stations, three more are in the pipeline: Las Piñas Station, Zapote Station, and Niog Station in Bacoor, Cavite. The Department of Transportation previously said they are targeting to complete the full right-of-way acquisitions for the remaining areas by the end of 2025.
In total, the extension project will add 11.7 kilometers to the existing 20.7-kilometer rail line. The government expects that travel time from Baclaran to Bacoor will be reduced to 25 minutes once completed.
“Lahat nga nitong mga rail projects basta’t sinasabi ko gawin natin ang lahat para madagdagan nang madagdagan dahil makikita naman natin — napakalaking bagay, napakalaking maibibigay na ginhawa, at mas mabilis,” Marcos said.
(With all of these rail projects I always say we should do everything so that our railways will increase in number because we can see — it is a big deal, it is comfortable, and it is faster.)
The LRMC — a joint venture of Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Investments Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. (MIHPL) — operates the LRT1 Cavite Extension.
In September 2015, the LRMC took over the operations, maintenance, and extension of the LRT1. The JV also worked on updating infrastructure of the railway — the oldest in Southeast Asia — including the replacement of its rails. – Rappler.com