Marcos promises more public transport

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos promised more public transportation development projects during the inauguration of the new Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) 4th generation light rail vehicles in Pasay yesterday.

“It truly makes me proud to witness the steady realization of our vision of a more developed Philippines coming into fruition through our new light rail vehicles which will be used in the existing LRT-1 system and on the LRT-1 extension to Cavite,” he said.

Marcos also thanked the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mitsubishi Corp. and the Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles for their partnership in enhancing mass transit systems in the Metro Rail Project.

“(Through) this commitment that you have shown to enhance the capacity of the LRT-1 by increasing the number of LRVs, we will be able to now aid in easing traffic congestion as well as mitigating air pollution caused by vehicles plying the roads of Metro Manila,” Marcos said.

The LRT-1 Cavite Extension is expected to serve up to 800,000 passengers a day and shorten the travel time between Baclaran, Pasay City and Bacoor City from one hour and 10 minutes to 25 minutes.

Among those present during the inauguration were Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa, JICA Philippines chief representative Takema Sakamoto and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Gen 4 trains

LRT-1 will deploy Generation 4 train sets today to increase the railway’s passenger capacity.

The Gen 4 trains sent by the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) have red liveries, can run up to 70 kilometers per hour and transport nearly 1,400 passengers each trip.

The LRMC will deploy one Gen 4 train set to the main line every week until December, following the increasing requirement of the rail system.

At present, there are 20 Gen 4 trains in the Philippines awaiting deployment and the LRMC will receive another 10 sets from Mexico between November 2023 and February 2024.

LRT-1 will operate a fleet of 48 train sets in total once all of the Gen 4 trains are delivered.

All of the Gen 4 trains will be operated once the first segment of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension is opened next year.

The LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project will add eight stations to the rail line to cover Bacoor, Cavite.

LRMC plans to complete the first segment of the project by September 2024, made up of five stations ending in Sucat, Parañaque City.

The Gen 4 trains, produced by Mitsubishi Corp. and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, went through safety checks and trial runs before they were approved for commercial use.