MRT7 trains to be seen running by April 2022

Trains of the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 are expected to be seen running by April 2022 as part of the test runs of the rail system after the initial shipment of trains arrived in the country from Korea last week, an official revealed Monday.

According to Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John “TJ” Batan, the test runs will include static and dynamic tests to ensure that the trains are compatible with the rail line, and are fit for passenger use.

“Itong MRT7 ay magkakaroon na ng trial runs by April 2022, ‘yan ay sa pagitan ng Station 4 to 8,” he said during the Laging Handa virtual briefing.

“HIndi po siya passenger operations, pero makikita na nating tumatakbo ang ating mga tren dahil nakita nga natin itong mga nakaraang linggo ay dumating na ‘yung unang dalawa sa mga train sets ng MRT7,” he added.

(The MRT7 will have trial runs by April 2022, between Stations 4 to 8. These are not passenger operations, but we will see the trains running as the first two train sets of the rail line arrived in the past week.)

Construction works of the project are 55.19% complete as of June 30, while civil works is at 53.20% completion, and rolling stocks and E&M systems at 56.53%. Full operations of the rail line are expected in December 2022.

San Miguel Corp.—the private proponent for the MRT7—last weekend started the installation of the first train sets from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem.

The two train sets, consisting of three cars each, were dispatched to the MRT7 trackers between the University Avenue and Tandang Sora, with six more train sets  expected to arrive by the end of the year, and more in 2022 until all 108 cars or 36 train sets are delivered.

The MRT7 is a public-private partnership (PPP) project pegged at P74.544 billion, which was an unsolicited proposal of the San Miguel group with a 25-year build-gradual transfer-operate and maintain structure.

The project involves the financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the 23-kilometer elevated railway that will have 14 stations connecting San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan to the MRT3 North Avenue station in Quezon City.

It will also have a 22-kilometer asphalt road from the Bocaue Interchange of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to the intermodal terminal in Tala, diverting northern provincial bus operations to San Jose Del Monte in a bid to decongest EDSA.

Officials of SMC, the then-Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), SMC, and then-President Benigno Aquino III broke ground for the project in April 2016.—AOL, GMA News