The Department of Transportation's (DOTr) Railways sector will complete its target projects before the term of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte ends, officials said.
These include opening the extended service of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) in Southern Luzon; the Light Rail Transit Authority’s (LRTA) completion of repair of escalators and elevators as well as the improvement of facilities of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2), and the extension of Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) free rides for the third straight month.
PNR’s extended provincial services, the San Pablo (Laguna)-Makati and the inter-Quezon, the San Pablo-Lucena, services will operate before 30 June 2022, announced PNR General Manager Junn Magno.
“The proposed operation is part of our strategic objective on the social impact of railways and to bring value and relevance of the service to our unserved clientele in the corridor between San Pablo and Lucena," explained Magno.
"The traffic is really bad and underprivileged passengers have no means of undertaking mass transport," he added.
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Meanwhile, LRTA Administrator Jeremy Regino reported that from 14 operational escalators as of December 31, 2021, the LRT-2 now has 64 out of 72 escalators in operation.
And from the nine functioning elevators last December, the rail line now has 35 functioning elevators out of 40.
Furthermore, the LRTA has repaired 42 LRT-2 restrooms, with the remaining three to be completed by next week.
Meanwhile, eight additional operational car trains will be made available by Monday, May 30, 2022, Administrator Regino added.
For its part, the MRT-3 management has again extended the free rides offered by the rail line until 30 June 2022.
The MRT-3 offered free rides for the third straight month since its started on March 28, 2022 after the comprehensive rehabilitation of the rail line.
To continue providing assistance to the riding public and to help ease their financial burden amid inflation and rising fuel prices, the MRT-3 free ride program, which was set to originally end on April 30 and May 30, 2022, has been extended until 30 June 2022, says MRT-3 OIC General Manager Michael Capati.
“This (free ride) will also allow the MRT-3 to further test its capacity and performance in accommodating up to or more than 350,000 passengers,” Capati explained.
To date, 12 rail projects are in various stages of implementation, the MRT-4, LRT-2 West Extension, the Subic-Clark Railway, and the Mindanao Railway Project, among them, DOTr Undersecretary for Rails Timothy John Batan reported.
“We are hopeful that the current pipeline projects that we have, particularly in the railways sector, will be continued by the incoming administration,” he maintained.