Consisting of five new train stations located in Pasay and Parañaque City, Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) is set to open the Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension phase one this November 2024.

According to LRMC Corporate Communications Head Jacqueline Gorospe in a briefing during an exclusive tour of the new stations, the 11.70-km-long extension that fully extends to Bacoor, Cavite is divided into two phases, with the first phase having five stations and the second phase having three more. 

“The entire project extends the line of LRT-1 from Fernando Poe Jr. Station, formerly known as Roosevelt [Station] located in Quezon City, and it will extend until the province of Cavite,” Gorospe stated. 

Currently, the LRT-1 operates with 20 stations after the north extension project in 2016, adding the stations of Balintawak and Fernando Poe Jr. 

Under phase one are the newly added stations, including Redemptorist-Aseana, MIA Road, PITX, Ninoy Aquino Avenue, and Dr. Santos (formerly Sucat), equivalent to an additional 6.35 km of rail transit. 

Meanwhile, the construction of the second phase with 3.27 km has not yet begun given that LRMC is still in conversation with the government regarding the Right of Way.

Right of Way serves as the rail transit’s path and has to be cleared before the beginning of the train’s construction.

The corporation is expecting the accomplishment of the second phase in 2031, if the plan of starting the construction in 2027 will proceed.

Furthermore, LRMC shared that they took over the system of LRT-1 in 2015 and was supposed to begin the project immediately; however, the Right of Way was not yet set and approved for construction.

“It was only April 2019 that we got the go signal to start the construction… Let us say we really started in 2015, we would have finished this or launched this early, but because the Right of Way was not turned over much earlier, then we only started in 2019,” she explained.

The project formally commenced in 2019 with a geotechnical investigation followed by a groundbreaking ceremony and the start of construction.

Moreover, the additional stations are forecasted to increase the total number of LRT-1 commuters, adding 80,000 people daily.

LRMC claims that the travel time from Baclaran to Dr. Santos Avenue using the rail transit will be reduced by 30 minutes

- Cassandra Luis J. De Leon
(Photo by Melvin James Urubio/FEU Advocate)