In 2009, it was decided that a common station be built to allow travelers using Metro Manila’s two main train systems – the Light Rail Transit (LRT 1) and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT 3) – move from one system to the other. A third line from San Jose del Monte in Bulacan – MRT 7 – will eventually connect to the two lines.
The original plan was to build the common station on Epifanio delos Santos Ave. (EDSA) right in front of SM North EDSA; SM paid the government P200 million for a deal that included naming rights. However, when the Aquino administration began, in 2010, the new officials had second thoughts about the plan and in 2014 decided on a new site closer to Trinoma mall of Ayala. SM immediately went to court and obtained a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.
There the matter rested for the next three years – until last January 18 when agreement was reached by all the interested parties – SM Prime Holdings, Ayala, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Department of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH), the LRT Authority, the Light Rail Manila Corp., San Miguel Corp., and North Triangle Depot Corp.
As agreed upon, the common station will be built on a site between the two malls; this apparently takes care of the original dispute over its location. There will be an Area A, the platform and concourse for LRT 1 and MRT 3, to be constructed by the DOTr; an Area C for MRT 7, to be built by San Miguel; and an Area B connecting Areas A and C, to be built by an affiliate of Ayala Land. The total cost of this Public-Private Partnership project is expected to be P2.8 billion. Construction is to begin in December and is expected to be completed in April, 2019.
Once completed, the common station will be serving millions of commuters daily. It is hoped that it will facilitate travel by train around Metro Manila, thus lessening road traffic and easing the traffic jams that have long plagued Metro Manila. The street-level area below the common station will continue to serve trucks, buses, and private cars.
There is some concern, however, about traffic in the area during the two years that the common train station is under construction. Even now, that confluence of EDSA and North Avenue is one of the busiest parts of the highway. When the tractors, earthmovers, cement mixers, and trucks bearing steel and other construction materials start moving in, the area will be one of the busiest traffic sites in Metro Manila.
The House of Representatives wants to review the agreement to ensure that the project will truly benefit the people and not just the business concerns that signed the agreement last week. It is only proper that Congress will look into the project to ensure that it is truly worth the R2.8 billion that it has appropriated for it.
When it holds its hearings, we urge that the congressmen also look into the possible havoc on traffic that the project may cause during the construction period. A special effort must be made to draw up a plan to ensure continued smooth traffic – as smooth, anyway, as it is today – during the two long years that work on the common station is underway.