Odds defied, LRT-2 back

Operations from the Santolan to Anonas stations will remain suspended until the damaged rectifier substations are replaced.

The Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) defied naysayers’ claims of a prolonged delay by resuming operations in a major part of the system, between the Cubao and Recto stations, after being halted for four days following the tripping of power rectifiers that also caused fires and resulted in severe damage to a substation in the eastern end of the rail line.

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), however, said operations from the Santolan to Anonas stations will remain suspended until the damaged rectifier substations are replaced which will be a process requiring “highly-technical intervention” that would take from six to nine months.

In a statement, LRT Authority Administrator (LRTA) Gen. Reynaldo Berroya said operations of the trains resumed after thorough safety checks were completed.

“The signaling, telecommunications, power supply systems, tracks and the trains for most of the stations have been cleared and in normal condition. Hence, we are now ready to serve the riding public,” Berroya said.

The train operations started at 6 a.m., later than the usual 4:30 a.m. start and the last trains will leave at 8:30 p.m. from Cubao and 9 p.m. from Recto, both earlier than the usual 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., respectively.

The rail authority said the late start and early closing were to give way for maintenance works.

To ensure that power supply is sufficient, Berroya said LRT-2 will only send out a limited number of trains as he appealed to passengers to allow an additional hour for travel.

“Speed restrictions and a limited number of trains will be fielded to ensure passenger safety and the sufficiency of the power supply coming from the remaining rectifier (transformer) substations,” Berroya indicated.

The Santolan, Katipunan and Anonas stations remain out of service and its tracks unpassable as a result of damage to its power supply and signaling systems.

Berroya said the LRTA would do its best to address the problems and restore full operations of the LRT-2 system immediately.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo dismissed suggestions of a mass transport crisis.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Panelo said that despite the problems affecting Manila’s three railway systems, people still managed to go to and from their respective destinations to work or do their daily routines.

He added that government is doing its best to fix or bring solution to the problems affecting the three railway systems.

“What do they mean of transportation crisis? I only see traffic, there is transportation. All of us manage to get a ride,” Panelo told reporters.

Panelo said based on the explanation of some experts, rail systems usually bog down almost everyday but now it happens only once a week. “So, there was a huge improvement,” Panelo said. “I think there is no crisis yet,” he added.

As a further assistance to passengers, point-to-point buses were fielded at the Masinag, Emerald and Santolan stations to go all the way to Legarda station and back, with another 40 modernized public utility vehicles (PUVs) deployed to take passengers across Santolan to Legarda.

A bus service loop has also been deployed to ferry passengers across Santolan, Katipunan, Anonas and Cubao.

The LRTA said these PUV will operate daily from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and will cost P15 from Santolan to Cubao or P25 from Masinag to Legarda.

In addition, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Philippine Coast Guard continue to provide free bus rides from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the Santolan to Cubao loop.

The project has been delayed for 19 years due mainly to the ROW problems. When completed, it is expected to service up to 800,000 passengers per day. It targets partial operations by the end of 2021.

The Department of Transportation (DoTr) also reported that right-of-way (RoW) access for the Light Rail Transit-1 (LRT-1) extension is almost complete to indicate the project may start construction soon.

In a statement, DoTr said the remaining obstruction now only consist of one pipe owned by Maynilad Water Services Inc., telecommunications and cable facilities of six companies, various other ancillary facilities, and 18 lots owned by three landowners.

Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), which bagged the extension project, commenced with the excavation, drilling, and piling works on 1 September 2019 and the substructure concreting works on 18 September for the first seven kilometers and five stations for partial operability.

According to Maynilad, relocation of the obstructing pipe still requires a permit from the Cavite Infrastructure Corp (CIC), which is the operator of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway or CAVITEx.

During a meeting with the Toll Regulatory Board, CIC committed to issue the permit to Maynilad before 1 November.

Since Maynilad, CIC and LRMC are all subsidiaries of the Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP)-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., DoTr expressed confidence that issues with CIC and Maynilad will soon be resolved.

Permits to start works for 18 remaining lots are expected to be issued within October by three landowners, namely the Philippine Reclamation Authority for 16 lots, Puregold for one lot and D.M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc. for one lot.

Representatives of Cable Link, Eastern Telecoms, Globe Telecom, PLDT, Radius Telecoms and Sky Cable made commitments to complete relocating portions of their grid within the month.

Removal of other obstructing ancillary facilities, such as plant boxes, lamp posts, traffic signals, and CCTV is also on track, with the assistance extended by Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez in completing the clearing works.