LRMC starts constructing P64.9-B LRT1 Cavite extension

Following the completion of ground investigation and foundation design works, the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has started piling works from Dr. Santos Station in Parañaque on Sunday, Dept. 1, 2019, where right-of-way issues have been cleared, the Department of Transportation said Monday, Sept. 2, 2019. DOTr.

Piling works for the construction of supporting piers for the P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1) Cavite extension has started, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Monday.

It started on Sunday, September 1, some five years after the project was awarded to LRMC.

“Following completion of ground investigation and foundation design works, the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has started piling works from Dr. Santos Station in Parañaque, where right-of-way has been cleared,” the department said.

“Piling works involve the construction of supporting piers that will serve as the foundation for the elevated railway structures,” it said.

The group of Ayala Corporation, Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation, and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings, bagged the contract for the project in 2014.

LRMC, however, took over the operations and maintenance of the LRT1 rail system only in September 2015.

As the government’s private partner, LRMC is responsible for the design, construction, and financing of the Cavite extension, as well as the operation and maintenance of the mass rail system once the project is complete.

The piling works involves the construction of the first 67 piers from Dr. Santos Station to the Ninoy Aquino Station in Parañaque City.

The extension project will also require 47 piers from the Ninoy Aquino Station to Asiaworld Station, 22 from Redemptorist Station to the existing LRT1 Baclaran Station, and 74 piers from Asiaworld Station to Redemptorist Station.

The LRT1 extension is expected to be partially operating in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The project is expected to increase LRT1’s ridership from 500,000 to 800,000 daily, and reduce the travel time between Baclaran and Bacoor, Cavite to 25 minutes from one to two hours at present. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News