LIGHT RAIL Manila Corp. (LRMC), the private operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), announced on Wednesday that it will temporarily suspend operations from April 14 to 17 to give way to annual maintenance activities.
“We are doing these annual maintenance activities to allow us to improve capacity and performance across the line, enabling us to serve our LRT-1 passengers with better, more reliable transport system,” LRMC Chief Operating Officer Enrico R. Benipayo said in an e-mailed statement.
“With this, we urge the riding public to plan their trips accordingly and request for their usual understanding,” he added.
The company said LRT-1 will follow normal operating hours from April 11 to 13, having first trips to leave Baclaran and Balintawak by 4:30 in the morning.
The last trips will be at 9:15 p.m. (LRT-1 Baclaran) and 9:30 p.m. (LRT-1 Balintawak).
The maintenance activities will include rail replacement, replacement of wooden sleepers, and testing of all trains prior to the resumption of revenue operations, LRMC said.
Normal operations will resume on April 18, it added.
LRMC is the joint venture of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin