LRT 1 Cavite extension project finally starts

Extended rail line seen cutting travel time from Pasay to Cavite to 25 mins

After 19 years, the piling works for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 Cavite Extension Project have finally started after successfully clearing the right-of-way (ROW) problems that marred the project in Parañaque City, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Link Pasay to Cavite

This signals new movement in the upcoming transit line, whose delayed implementation was brought up during a Senate inquiry in August amid the bungled, disjointed traffic measures implemented by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The extended rail line will link Pasay City to Cavite and reduce travel time from 2 hours to only 25 minutes and is seen as a crucial node in rationalizing routes to and from the south, especially after the completion of the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.

The piling works involve the construction of the supporting piers for the elevated railway structures which will start at Dr. Santos Station in Parañaque, the DOTr said.

Sixty-seven piers from Dr. Santos to Ninoy Aquino station already begun construction since Sept. 1, and will be followed by 40 piers to AsiaWorld and 22 piers from Redemptorist Road to the existing LRT 1 Baclaran station.

Construction of the 74 piers from AsiaWorld to Redemptorist, meanwhile, will start on March 2020.

Together these five stations make up the first phase of the project which is expected to operate partially by 2021. The rest of the line to Niog, Bacoor, is expected to be up and running by 2022.

Simultaneous piling

To speed up construction, the DOTr said it would conduct piling works simultaneously in areas where ROW has already been cleared.

Remaining ROW obstructions under Package 1 include auxiliary facilities (traffic lights, plant boxes, drainage lines) that would be cleared with the help of the local government of Parañaque.

Last month, Transport Undersecretary for Roads Mark de Leon told senators that the LRT 1 Cavite Extension project was delayed because of ROW issues.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1160559/lrt-1-cavite-extension-project-finally-starts

LRT-1 Cavite extension project begins construction

THE Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) has started piling works for the construction of supporting piers for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension project, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) announced on Monday.

The works began on Sunday after the company finished its ground investigation and foundation designs.

The 11.7-kilometer extension required 203 piers, with the first 67 now being built between the planned Dr. Santos Station — where right of way has been cleared — and Ninoy Aquino Station, both in Parañaque City.

Construction on the next 40 from Ninoy Aquino to Asiaworld Station and 22 from Redemptorist Station to the existing Baclaran Station will start in November, and the remaining 74 — from AsiaWorld to Redemptorist — will begin early next year.

Expected to be completed by 2021, the project involves building eight stations from Baclaran to Niog Street in Bacoor City, Cavite province. The other stations are MIA, Las Piñas and Zapote.

Once operations begin in 2022, the project is seen to boost the current 500,000 passenger traffic to 800,000 a day, and cut travel time between Baclaran and Bacoor from one to two hours to 25 minutes.

The project has an initial cost of between P25 billion and P30 billion, LRMC President Juan Alfonso said last year. To finance this, LRMC secured P25 billion through bank loans.

“The rest will be equity from LRMC, which is 55-percent Metro Pacific Investments Corp., 35-percent Ayala and 10-percent Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines),” he told reporters in August 2018.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/09/03/business/business-top/lrt-1-cavite-extension-project-begins-construction/610532/