MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is open to the proposal of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) to construct an interim station to connect Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) and MRT Line 7 (MRT-7).
Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya told reporters the agency has been informed of the MPIC’s proposed interim station to connect the railways.
“The stakeholders have discussed it. Looks good. There is plenty of work needed to be done but it looks good,” he said.
Earlier, MPIC president and chief executive officer Jose Ma. Lim said the company floated the idea of an interim station within the “triangle of Trinoma (mall) and SM (mall)” in Quezon City to the DOTC last year.
MPIC broached the idea to the government to enable passengers of LRT-1 and MRT-3 to enjoy seamless transfer from one railway to the next.
LRT-1 runs from Roosevelt station in Quezon City up to Baclaran station in Pasay City, while MRT-3 spans North Avenue station in Quezon City until Taft Avenue station in Pasay City.
Lim said the interim station, if acceptable to all parties involved, could eventually become a permanent station.
MPIC is interested in providing passengers convenience when transferring from one railway to the next, as it is part of the Light Rail Manila Corp., the consortium which bagged the contract to operate, maintain and extend the LRT-1 all the way to Cavite.
Earlier, the DOTC proposed to have two common stations, with one located near SM North EDSA mall and the other closer to the Trinoma mall, to link LRT-1, MRT-3 and the upcoming MRT-7 which will cover North Avenue station in Quezon City until San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, as compromise for allegedly breaching an agreement entered into by the LRT Authority with SM in 2009 to put up a common station for the railways near the SM North EDSA mall.
In 2014, DOTC decided to have the common station near Ayala Group’s Trinoma mall instead of SM North EDSA mall due to savings in construction cost as well as convenience of passengers.