New LRT-2 stations to start operations next month

The two new stations built under the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) East Extension project will start operations next month, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the Transportation department said the two stations — Marikina, built in front of the Sta. Lucia and Robinsons Metro East malls; and Antipolo, constructed in front of the SM Masinag mall — would have their soft opening on April 26 and begin running the next day.

As of end-January, the P2.27-billion project was 93.42-percent complete, according to the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), operator of both LRT-1 and LRT-2.

According to LRTA spokesman Hernando Cabrera, the project’s first package, which involves building eastbound and westbound viaducts, is already finished. The second, on the station’s design and constriction, is substantially complete; and the third, which covers the electro-mechanical system, rails, power supply, telecommunications and signaling system, is still being installed.

“We are fast-tracking that (third package) to meet the April 25 inauguration,” he said.

Once completed, the LRT-2 East Extension can carry an additional 80,000 passengers daily, raising the entire line’s current daily ridership to 240,000.

Opened in April 2003, LRT-2 currently operates with 11 stations spanning from Manila to Pasig City: Recto, Legarda, Pureza, V. Mapa, J. Ruiz, Gilmore, Betty Go-Belmonte, Araneta Center-Cubao, Anonas, Katipunan and Santolan.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has said the two new stations’ construction must be finished at once so that commuters would benefit from them as soon as possible.

“The LRT 2 East Extension Project…shall ease the travel of our [countrymen] from Rizal to Manila. Once this is completed, travel time from Recto to Masinag would be reduced to 40 minutes, compared [with] up to three hours travel via bus or jeepney,” he said in an earlier statement.