Cebu City MRT project eyed

CEBU CITY – A China - based transportation consortium is proposing a monorail train (MRT) transport system here which could be fully operational in 2021.

In a press conference recently, Joel Guardo, Jr, chief operations officer of Philtram Consortium Transport Inc., presented the pre-feasibility study and the detailed engineering design of the proposed MRT for Cebu.

Guardo said the proposed project is a 16-17.5 kiloemter elevated 2-way alignment monorail-oriented location that will run from the South Road Properties (SRP) to Mandaue City with 16 or 17 stations.

“The model is an Innovia APM 300 system that is the latest eco-friendly transit technology proven to be the most friendly and efficient rail-oriented development today with a run flat capability at 15km/hour running speed to depot,” Zhuun Lu, Bombardier senior engineer and PHL team leader explained.

Lu said this technology is now operational in China and Brazil.

It is an 8-coach train, lightweight and fully automated, ‘driverless’ with a speed of 80km/hour.

Guardo thinks Cebuanos are ready for the MRT.

“Our goal is to ease traffic in Cebu, he said”.

The MRT system increases mobility that leads to more productivity and the economic impact to Cebu’s growth would be exponential, Guardo told the media.

Guardo said his team already presented the project to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña who expressed his support to the proposal as long as it would not compete with the latter’s Bus Rail Train (BRT) system project.

Guardo added that the MRT needs other kinds of transport system and the BRTs and jeepneys are feeders to the MRT.

“There are always compromises and complementation and potentials for business satellites along the MRT routes and depots,” he said.

PhilTram’s COO also bared that the team is set to pitch the proposal to the Department of Transportation and Malacañang.