The Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has announced a new temporary passenger traffic scheme that will be implemented in LRT-1 north line composed of Monumento, Balintawak, and Roosevelt stations, effective 4 January to 31 March, 2020.

The scheme is intended to accommodate the construction of the Common Station also known as the Unified Grand Central Station (UGCS) which will connect the systems of LRT-1, MRT-3 and MRT-7. Under the temporary passenger traffic scheme, commuters traveling northbound may take the Baclaran-to-Monumento circuit and the Baclaran-to-Balintawak circuit.

Passengers with Roosevelt station as their last stop are advised to take the Baclaran-to-Balintawak circuit. A special shuttle train will arrive every ten minutes during weekday peak period to exclusively pick up passengers in Balintawak station and shuttle them to Roosevelt station.

The same shuttle train will pick-up passengers from Roosevelt station and bring them to Balintawak station where LRT-1 commuters can take the train going southbound.

According to LRMC Chief Operating Officer Enrico Benipayo, the Baclaran-to-Monumento circuit will address the heavy passenger volume in Monumento station especially during peak hours.

“We want to ensure normal operations in all twenty stations of our existing line while the construction of the common station is ongoing that’s why we have this temporary passenger traffic scheme.”

LRMC said it will deploy additional crowd marshals and safety teams as well as put up directional signages in the stations. “We will also add signage inside the trains for passengers to easily identify if the last stop of the train is either Monumento or Balintawak,” added Benipayo.

The Common Station is one of the big-ticket projects of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to enable passengers to seamlessly transfer from one rail line to another.