Saturday, September 30, 2017

P2.8-billion Common Station for 3 rail lines starts construction

After three administrations and eight years of delay, the building of the P2.8-billion Common Station, linking 3 overhead railways (MRT-3, LRT-1, MRT-7) plus the future Metro Manila Subway, can begin this October.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade thanked the private shareholders for “setting aside their differences for the common good” in yesterday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Quezon City.

The Common Station, originally known as the North Extension Project, hit a deadlock after the proponents – SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI), Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), San Miguel Corp. (SMC), and the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) – failed to identify and agree on a common location. The project also got a lot of flak in Congress.

That was until a year ago, after the parties signed a Term Sheet outlining the general principles of the agreed upon location.

After extensive discussions, they came up with a Memorandum of Agreement covering the design parameters, service level requirements, along with the responsibilities and contributions of the parties involved in the project.

Each proponent made a commitment to follow timelines and deliver the Common Station on schedule.

Now, the 13,700-square-meter  Common Station between The Annex at SM City North EDSA and Landmark / Trinoma Mall will have a spacious concourse to facilitate the transfer of passengers from one line to another.

In fact, the bulk of its almost P3-billion project course will be allocated for expanding the concourse area to accommodate future expected increases in ridership with the pending completion of MRT-7 (North Avenue corner EDSA, Quezon City – Araneta-Colinas Verdes Subdivision, City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan), LRT-1 Extension (Baclaran, Pasay City to Niog, Bacoor City) and the Subway (Mindanao Avenue – NAIA).

Overall, it is expected to serve 478,000 passengers daily by 2020.

The Common Station’s design also ensures a defined level of service by all parties, convenient walk in the platform, bigger space, plus connection between two major malls.

In addition, the project will deliver dual tracks for the LRT-1, MRT-3 and MRT-7 for increased operational efficiency.

The ground level of the Common Station will service road-based PUVs for intermodal interoperability, allowing not just seamless railway-to-railway transfers but also railway-to-bus-to-jeep-to-AUV transfers.

It is a “great gift to the riding public,” says Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who represented President Duterte in the ground breaking.

And “It will be a game changer for mass transport in Metro Manila,” noted LRMC President and CEO Rogelio Singson.  Passengers of LRT-1, of which LRMC is a shareholder, can now travel from Quezon City to Baclaran in under an hour.

When the extension project is completed, passengers from Cavite can reach Quezon City in an hour.

“We will go full blast with the construction,” pledged President and CEO ALI Bobby Dy.

ALI committed to start building the Common Station by next month.

“We have been waiting for this for so long. We will make sure we will follow timelines,” stressed SMC’s Manuel Bonoan.

The Detailed Engineering Design by the Independent Consultant and finalization of the Parcellary Survey Plan with the help of Autocad and Google Earth that the station drawings are: Landmark Station street level, concourse (2nd floor) and platform levels (3rd floor) floor plan cross section, while the existing North Avenue MRT-3 station with footbridge street level, concourse and platform level floor plan and cross section.

Required width of Elevated Station
EDSA LRT-1 and MRT-3 station site development plan

Common station seen ready by 2020

The groundbreaking of a long-delayed common railway station project in Metro Manila was held yesterday, with completion seen in at least two and a half years or early 2020.

The event, largely ceremonial, set the wheels in motion for an issue that dates back to 2009. It started during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and had stalled during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.

The current site, between The Annex at SM City North Edsa and Ayala Land Inc.’s Trinoma in Quezon City, was agreed upon by all parties last January after months of negotiations with the Department of Transportation under President Duterte.

During the ceremony yesterday, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade reminded all groups that a groundbreaking event was one thing and finishing the project was another matter.

Private sector stakeholders, led by officials from San Miguel Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc., Ayala Land, Inc., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., all committed to the timelines set by the government.

“Today, we celebrate because we see unity,” Tugade said. “In the next two and a half to three years, we will again celebrate because we will witness the operation of the common unified station.”

The common station aims to link the Light Rail Transit Line 1, the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, and the MRT-7, which will connect to the city of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and is slated for completion by 2020.

The station will cost the government P2.8 billion to build. At 13,700 square meters, it is more than double the size of the original design in 2009.

Rogelio Singson, the CEO of LRT-1 operator Light Rail Manila Corp. until the end of this month, said the project was expected to handle between 300,000 and 500,000 passengers a day.

“The common station will provide safety and convenience to hundreds of thousands of passengers. We are glad to be a step closer to completion and we promise to go full blast with construction,” Bernard Dy, Ayala Land president, and CEO said.

The DOTr noted that the design ensured “a defined level of service by all parties, convenient walk in the platform, bigger space and connection between two major malls.”

“It will also deliver dual tracks for LRT-1, MRT-3, and MRT-7 for increased operational efficiency. The ground level of the Common Station will service road-based PUVs  (public utility vehicles) for intermodal interoperability,” the DOTr noted.

The common station, originally located near the SM City North Edsa Annex, came under review under President Aquino III. It stalled after then Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Abaya decided in May 2013 to move the location near the Trinoma shopping mall, citing cost benefits.

This prompted SM Prime to sue the government for breach of contract. With the signing of the agreement with other stakeholders last January, the SM Group committed to withdrawing its lawsuit.

Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific currently operate the LRT-1 while SMC is building the MRT-7.

http://business.inquirer.net/237702/common-station-seen-ready-2020