Improvements on LRT Line 1 under way

Improvements on the three-decade-old Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 finally started following a local construction firm’s successful bid to secure the contract for a key component of the rehabilitation project.

In a notice of award published Tuesday, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) announced that phase 2 of the LRT Line 1’s comprehensive safety, reliability and capacity improvement project was given to local industrial firm Jorgman Planning and Development Corp.

The awarding of the phase 2 contract comes more than nine months after the five-phase LRT Line 1 rehabilitation project was announced.

The contract worth P104.76 million involves the replacement of gantry anchor bolts that run through 23 kilometers of the LRT Line 1’s original section from Baclaran in Pasay to Monumento, Caloocan. The previous approved budget for the phase 2 project was P150 million.

In its original invitation, the DoTC said the gantry bolts, which hold up the overhead cables that deliver the electricity used by train cars, have corroded after decades of use.

The replacement of these 1,760 anchoring bolts was supposed to start last March and be done in three years.

Other phases of Line 1’s rehabilitation project include the replacement of 23 kilometers of train tracks that were installed when the LRT 1 was first built.

This will cost the government P381 million and will take more than a year to complete.

The DoTC has also earmarked an additional P184 million for the procurement of modified “bogie” frames, or chassis, that support train cars’ bodies, propulsion, suspension, braking and other systems.

The fourth phase will cover the rehabilitation of 21 dilapidated train cars, which are still in use, while the final phase involves the P197-million restoration of 14 train cars that are no longer running due to damage and other defects.

Apart from the rehabilitation of the existing line, the government also plans to extend the LRT Line 1 from Baclaran to Cavite—a project that will cost the state and its eventual private sector partner a total of P60 billion.