LRMC, Ateneo to offer courses on railway engineering

New LRT-1 trains stationed at the LRMC Baclaran Depot in Pasay. Image from Facebook / DOTr Sec. Art Tugade

MANILA, Philippines — Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the private operator of LRT-1, and the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) have teamed up to offer courses on railway engineering to “support the growing need for highly-skilled, competent, and world-class rail workforce.”

LRMC on Thursday said it is collaborating with ADMU’s School of Science and Engineering to offer its students three preliminary courses planned for the school year 2022 to 2023.

“LRMC has been planning and preparing for this collaboration with Ateneo. We live in an exciting time for our railway sector, with several infrastructure projects taking shape and a call for more sustainable modes of transport is being pushed,” LRMC president and CEO Juan Alfonso said in a statement.

“This initiative also underscores the importance of private sector and academe collaboration to bring about learning for students that is rooted in real-world setting,” said Alfonso, who also sits as a member of the Advisory Board of the Ateneo Research Institute of Science and Engineering.

One of the courses, the Transportation and Society course, will be an interdisciplinary elective (IE) open to any ADMU student who has taken Science, Technology, and Society as a subject, according to LRMC.

Meanwhile, another course — Principles of Railway Transportation — is a technical IE course for students under the Department of Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering.

Its prerequisite, the Railway Management and Engineering course, is a major elective open to all Computer Engineering students taking the railway engineering track and to all students taking the minor program in railway engineering.

Meanwhile, the corporation said that LRMC will serve as a laboratory for a 5-month internship program about railway education, which will also kick off in the school year 2022 to 2023.

“Students selected to undergo the internship program will gain exposure to railway maintenance and construction management, project management, and working in a corporate set-up,” LRMC said.

“LRMC is also discussing with Ateneo on how innovation and technology can be applied in research projects to be undertaken by students and/or faculty that will help address current challenges and gaps in the transportation sector,” it added.

For his part, Alfonso emphasized that education is one of the strongest advocacy pillars of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chairman Manuel Pangilinan.

“We are happy to share the good news today on the occasion of our Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s 76th birthday. Education is one of the MVP Group’s strongest advocacy pillars, under the six GABAY Advocacies for a Sustainable Philippines,” he said.

“We hope to continue supporting this thrust and contribute to national development. We look forward to officially launching and sharing more details about this partnership with Ateneo very soon,” he said.  Xander Dave Ceballos, INQUIRER.net intern

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