THE LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT AUthority (LRTA) is considering the extension on both ends of its Marikina-to-Manila overhead train system for it to reach from the North Harbor area in Tondo to Antipolo City in Rizal.

LRTA administrator Melquidades Robles said industrial firm Marubeni Philippines Corp. is currently conducting a feasibility study on lengthening the LRT Line 2 system to extend the reach of the mass transport system.

The plan under study calls for extending the LRT-2 westward to the North Harbor in Manila’s Tondo district, and eastward to Antipolo’s Masinag junction.

“The impact of this is big. We’ll be connecting the sea to the mountains,” Robles said in an interview on Thursday.

He said the costs for the on-going study, which started two months ago, are being shouldered by the Japanese government through a grant. The official, however, declined to give details regarding the grant.

“We still don’t know what mode will be used [to fund the project],” Robles said, noting that the important element at this point is to get the technical specifications of the plan clearly mapped out.

“The study is ongoing and we’re just waiting for their feedback,” Robles said, referring to the local subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest trading firms, Marubeni Corp.

The extension to Tondo and Antipolo, Rizal, had been part of the original plans for LRT-2, which is the country’s newest but least utilized train system.

LRT-2 currently runs 13.8 kilometers and traverses five cities in Metro Manila, namely Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, San Juan and Manila along the major thoroughfares of Marcos Highway, Aurora Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Legarda and Recto Avenue.

Other overhead train systems in the metro are the LRT’s Line 1, the 15-kilometer system from Monumento in Caloocan to Baclaran in Parañaque, along Taft and Rizal Avenues.

The Metro Rail Transit or MRT system meanwhile, travels along Edsa from its intersection with Taft Avenue in Pasay to North Avenue in Quezon City. This was built to help decongest Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare.