Construction of LRT-MRT Common Station set to start

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) formally signed the contract for the design and build of ‘Area A’ of the 13-billion Unified Grand Central Station (UGCS), also known as the Common Station, on February 13, 2019.

Its construction has been delayed for ten years, through 3 administrations.

The Common Station, located at the north end of EDSA, marks the intersection of four railway lines – the LRT-1, MRT-3, MRT-7, and the Metro Manila Subway. It aims to provide a seamless transfer of passengers from one rail line to another.

The Common Station will feature a transit area for the riding public, operated by an automated fare collection system, which will give commuters better point-to-point mobility and comfort.

It is expected to serve approximately 500,000 passengers daily upon completion.

“What is the value of the Common Station? Three things: interoperability, intermodality, and interconnectivity. Those three are key elements in making the Filipino life comfortable,” says DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.

With the location of the Common Station stalled since 2009, DOTr Secretary Tugade, in the first 100 days of the Duterte administration, met with all parties involved and got them to agree on a location.

The Common Station has long been started in the time of the Filipino-Chinese tycoons – the taipans, he noted. The government approved the concept in November 28, 2006.

The Common Station is a 13,700square meter concourse comprised of three areas: Area A under the DOTr, Area B under Ayala Land, Inc., and Area C under the MRT-7 Project facilitated by San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

Since the groundbreaking in 2017, Ayala Land, Inc. has started the construction of Area B.

Area A is set to be completed by 2020, while the entire Common Station is expected to be operational by 2022.

The construction of the Common Station is one of many projects under the infrastructure program of the Duterte administration, with the groundbreaking ceremony for the PNR Clark Phase 1 (Tutuban-Malolos) scheduled today, February 15, 2019, and the groundbreaking of the Metro Manila Subway next week, on February 26, 2019.

However, “Groundbreaking is one thing. Completion of a project is another thing," Tugade acknowledged.