Common station on track to fully operate in Q4 2020

The common station that will link at least four rail lines is on track to be fully operational by the last quarter of 2020, with its atrium set to be completed by the end of the year, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1), Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3), Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT7)—currently under construction—and the planned Mega Manila Subway will share the common station.

“‘Yung buong common station, target ho namin maging operational ‘yan by the end of 2020, last quarter of 2020,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of a contract signing in Quezon City.

The contract covers the design and build of the Unified Grand Central Station, or Area A of the common station, estimated to cost P2.7 billion.

The government tapped BF Corporation as contractor which committed to complete Area A by October 2020.

“This project shall be completed in 20 months ... By next year, Valentines siguro, we should be completing physically the project, maybe 60 percent or more in physical,” said Lucenda Vergara, general manager of BF Corporation.

Area A involves the construction of a two-story building and a bridge over EDSA, one of the busiest highways in the country.

This will connect LRT1 and MRT3, while Area C will link MRT7. The DOTr has yet to announce the segment for planned Mega Manila Subway.

“Only complication is we will be working on top and above EDSA. I think we have to identify ‘yung mga designs where we can work efficiently and minimize difficulties,” said Vergara.

Tugade warned of sanctions against BF Corp. miss the deadline set.

“I will fight you and I will throw the books at you if you don’t finish it within the quality and time we have envisioned it to be,” he said.

Area B, under Ayala Corp., is the general concourse area similar to the Grand Central Station in New York, USA.

Area C is assigned to San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the private partner for MRT7 public-private partnership.

“As much as possible, we want them to open at the same time by end of 2020,” Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John  Batan told reporters separately. —VDS, GMA News