Friday, December 11, 2020
LRT-1 Cavite extension now 50% complete: DOTr
By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz
The Cavite extension project of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) is about halfway complete according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
“As of November 30, this long-awaited and highly-anticipated rail extension of LRT-1 is now halfway, with 50.54% overall progress rate,” the DOTr said in a Facebook post on Friday.
The project was 38.70 percent complete as of April 30.
In a message, DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said that by December 2021, the first station of the Cavite Extension, Redemptorist Station in Baclaran, will be partially operational.
“And we’ve instructed the concessionaire, the Light Rail Manila Corporation, to target operationalizing additional stations up to MIA Station or PITX Station soonest,” Batan said.
In total, the LRT-1's Cavite extension will span 11.7 kilometers from Baclaran Station southward and will traverse eight more stations — Redemptorist Station, MIA Station, Asiaworld Station, Ninoy Aquino Station, Las Piñas Station, Zapote Station, and Niog Station.
Once complete, it will extend the existing 20-kilometer LRT-1 to 32 kilometers and boost its passenger capacity from 500,000 passengers to 800,000 passengers per day.
The extension project is expected to cut the travel time from Baclaran to Bacoor City, Cavite from the current one to two hours to only 25 minutes.