No deal yet on planned common rail stations

MANILA, Philippines - The construction of two common rail stations may still not be enough to appease SM Prime Holdings Inc. just yet.

A source with knowledge on the matter told The STAR no agreement has been reached among the parties involved regarding the proposal to put up two common stations.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said earlier SM along with the other parties such as Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC) and Universal LRT Corp. (ULC) have agreed in principle on the construction of a second common station for the overhead train system.

“The proposal has not been transmitted formally and what they are saying about the agreement is not true. There is no agreement yet,” the source said.

The source said even San Miguel has yet to agree on the proposal.

ULC, a unit of San Miguel Holdings Corp., holds the concession for the planned MRT-7 running from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

DOTC’s draft agreement with SM Prime seeks to solve the deadlock on the common station that would link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT).

The compromise agreement is seen to appease SM Prime, which has obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC) preventing DOTC from transferring the LRT-MRT common train station near the Trinoma Mall instead of SM North EDSA Mall.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. president Hans Sy told The STAR his group still to study the proposal.

“I haven’t seen it yet. I cannot comment on that yet because I want to see what their proposal is. I don’t want to preempt anything. I want to see it first before I give a comment,” Sy said.

The DOTC’s draft agreement proposes the construction of two common stations, one located near the Ayala Group’s Trinoma Mall in Quezon City to connect LRT-1 and MRT-3, and the other near SM North EDSA Mall to link MRT-7 and MRT-3, with the option to connect LRT-1.

With SM’s approval of the proposal, the DOTC hopes for the removal of the TRO and the immediate start of the train system’s construction.