LRT-2 Santolan to Anonas stations up for repairs; closed for at least 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Three stations of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) will be shut down for up to nine months to give way to repairs and replacement of parts, the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) spokesman said Friday.

This developed after a power rectifier tripped and caught fire in between Santolan and Katipunan stations on Thursday.

READ: LRT-2 suspends operations as power rectifier trips, catches fire

“Ang mga station na walang operation na aabutin ng nine months are definitely Santolan, Katipunan, and Anonas,” Cabrera said in an interview over dzBB.

(The stations that will not operate for nine months are Santolan, Katipunan, and Anonas.)

“But eventually baka ma-upgrade natin hanggang Anonas (station) ‘yung operations natin so ‘yung nine months na ‘yun,  mai-iwan na lang is ‘yung Katipunan at saka Santolan (stations),” he added.

[But eventually we can upgrade Anonas Station and what will be left to undergo repair for nine months are Katipunan and Santolan stations.]

LRTA spokesperson Hernando Cabrera said the fire that ravaged the train line between Santolan and Katipunan stations on Thursday caused massive damage, and replacement for the damaged train components would have to be imported.

Calculating the whole reparation process from the importation of parts until the installation, Cabrera said that its technical team assessed that it would take a minimum of nine months.

“Pero we will be doing our best na mapaikli ito kaya lang ayaw namin maipit sa timeline so minabuti namin na talagang i-consider lahat ng mga kailangan gawin and we came up ‘yung minimum na nine months,” he said.

(But we will be doing our best to shorten the timeline. We considered everything that needs to be done and we came up with a minimum of nine months.)

However, Cabrera said the management said it aims to resume partial LRT-2 operations by Monday or Tuesday next week.

“Ang target namin for the partial operations, meaning pwede tayong mag operate kasi from Recto to Cubao or Anonas and from Cubao or Anonas to Recto, ang target namin is Monday or Tuesday, kakayanin natin yan,” the LRTA official said.

(Our target for the partial operations, meaning we can operate from Recto to Cubao or Anonas and from Cubao or Anonas to Recto is Monday or Tuesday.) /kga