MANILA, Philippines — Part of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 will be closed this Saturday to Monday to make way for electromechanical improvements that will help deliver better services for commuters.
The LRT Authority (LRTA) on Wednesday said the line 1 stations’ Abad Santos to Roosevelt would be closed on May 28 to 30. Operations for the rest of the line, from Baclaran to Blumentritt, will remain normal.
LRTA Administrator Rafael Rodriguez said a number of shuttle buses would be available during revenue hours to ferry passengers who might want to ride from Abad Santos, R. Papa, 5th Avenue, Monumento, Balintawak, Roosevelt stations and back.
There will be no loading and unloading of shuttle bus passengers in between stations, according to Rodriguez.
“The integration of the existing signaling system with the newly opened stations of the North Extension Project (NEP) is being undertaken as an added improvement,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
“Its completion will result in improved and faster rail services on the entire Line 1 system from Baclaran to Roosevelt,” he said.
He said the system enhancements would allow for the easier management of trains using the line. This will minimize the congestion at stations and shorten the waiting time in between trains.
“Although our engineers have projected the integration work to last for 3 days, we will still try to complete the work over the weekend so that operations can resume on Monday, May 30, 2011,” added.
In order to minimize inconvenience to passengers, LRT frontline personnel would be deployed at affected stations to lend assistance to train commuters, Rodriguez said.
The LRTA noted that operations at other train lines—the LRT line 1 from Recto to Santolan and the Metro Rail Transit from Taft to North Avenue—would remain unaffected.
The LRT line 1 is Metro Manila’s oldest overhead commuter train line. It is used by over half a million passengers a day, which is still below its daily capacity of around 700,000.