LRT Line 2 (Metro Manila)
The Light Rail Transit Line 2, also known as LRT Line 2, LRT-2, or Megatren, is a rapid transit line in Metro Manila in the Philippines owned and operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority. The line generally runs in an east–west direction between in Manila and. The line is officially referred to as the Purple Line.
Although commonly known as LRT-2, the line is a high capacity heavy rail line that uses large metro cars which are longer and wider than those used on the PNR network and roughly the same size as those used on the MTR in Hong Kong, instead of the light rail vehicles used in earlier lines. Until the opening of MRT Line 7 in 2027, it is the country's only line that uses these types of trains.
Envisioned in the 1970s as part of the Metropolitan Manila Strategic Mass Rail Transit Development Plan, it was first planned in 1988 and stalled years later when Japan's official development assistance funds stepped in, the thirteen-station, line was the third rapid transit line to be built in Metro Manila when it started operations in 2003. The line became the first rapid transit line extending outside Metro Manila after its extension to Antipolo in Rizal opened in 2021.
The line is integrated with the public transit system in Metro Manila, and passengers also take various forms of road-based public transport, such as buses and jeepneys, to and from a station to reach their intended destination. It is the least busy among Metro Manila's three rapid transit lines, with total ridership significantly below the line's built maximum capacity, serving about 140,000 passengers daily in 2023. Regardless, the line encounters periods of peak ridership during rush hour in the morning and the evening. Expanding the network's revenue line to accommodate more passengers is set on tackling this problem, with the most recent 2021 extension linking to Antipolo and approved plans of a three-station westbound extension in Manila.
History
Planning and early delays
During the construction of the first line of the Manila Light Rail Transit System in the early 1980s, a Swiss company called Electrowatt Engineering Services designed a comprehensive plan for metro service in Metro Manila. The plan—still used as the basis for planning new metro lines—consisted of a network of rapid transit lines spanning all major corridors within 20 years, including a line on the Radial Road 6 alignment, one of the region's busiest road corridor.On March 16, 1988, the project was approved by the cabinet, and a feasibility study for the LRT Line 2, then called the MRT Line 2 project, that would connect Marikina to the City of Manila via Aurora Boulevard and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard was carried out in the same year. Lavalin of Canada was interested in planning to build the line when the Philippine government would look to have a contract similar to the Bangkok system that was to be developed by the company. The project was to be bid out as a build-operate-transfer project together with the LRT Line 1 capacity expansion project in 1989. In the same year, when President Corazon Aquino directed transportation secretary Rainerio Reyes to speed up the implementation of the line, the project was one of the 10 major infrastructure projects worth ₱8.7 billion.
Although sixteen firms were reported to have submitted bids for the line's construction, the bidding failed, causing delays. Only one consortium, made up of Japanese-European firms and another Japanese firm, RRA International, attended the actual bidding. This means that the bidding for LRT 2 as a BOT project was unilaterally cancelled by transportation secretary Oscar Orbos, apparently in favor of a “ground-level” transit system.
Another feasibility study was conducted in 1991 with financing from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund. The final revised project was approved on December 13, 1995 as a separate project from the LRT-1 capacity expansion project. Early in 1994, the planned route was to run from Recto inside the Old Bilibid Prison to Katipunan, totaling 11.8 kilometers, but the actual route is 10 kilometers; the plan was also to have a depot located at the vacant site of Quezon Institute, and the plan was to have 26 2-car trains.
Construction and opening
The LRT Line 2 project officially began in 1996, twelve years after the opening of Line 1, with the granting of the official development assistance loans from the OECF, later known as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for the line's construction starting in March of that year. The LRTA would have ownership of the system and assume all administrative functions, such as the regulation of fares and operations as well as the responsibility over construction and maintenance of the system and the procurement of spare parts for trains.| Package no. | Scope of work | Contractor | Date of award | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Depot |  Extension to AntipoloPlans to extend the line to Antipolo in the province of Rizal were first laid out in 1999 as part of the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study Master Plan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The MMUTIS study endorses the proposed expansion, which includes three stations, one of which was intended for the Vermont Royale Executive Village, but the proposal did not come to fruition.The extension was first approved by the Investment Coordination Committee board of the National Economic and Development Authority in October 2003. On August 3, 2006, the Light Rail Transit Authority announced its intention to extend the line eastward to Antipolo and westward to Port Area, Manila. In May 2011, LRTA secured commitments from the Philippine National Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Land Bank of the Philippines to fund the extension project. JICA then released a feasibility study report the following October. The extension, starting from the eastern terminus of up to Antipolo station in Antipolo, called for two additional stations: Emerald in Marikina near Sta. Lucia Mall and Robinsons Metro East; and Masinag, in Antipolo near SM City Masinag. The ₱9.7 billion project, at its current form, was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority chaired by then-President Benigno Aquino III on September 4, 2012. The Philippine national government funded the civil works contracts, while JICA funded the contract for the electrical and mechanical systems as part of its Capacity Enhancement of Mass Transit Systems in Metro Manila Project through a ¥43.2-billion loan for various projects of railway lines in Metro Manila. The project aimed to accommodate an additional 80,000 passengers and reduce traffic congestion along Marcos Highway. The lead consultant is a Korean consortium consisting of Foresight Development and Surveying, Soosung Engineering, and Korea Rail Network Authority. The first two packages, awarded to D.M. Consunji Incorporated, covered the design and construction of the viaduct and stations. Unlike the original line which used the pre-casting segmental method of construction, the east extension viaduct made use of AASHTO girders with a deck slab above the girders. Meanwhile, the third package, awarded to Marubeni and DMCI, covered the design and installation of the railway tracks and electrical and mechanical systems of the extension. The project broke ground on June 9, 2015, with an original 2017 deadline. On May 30, 2017, another groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the start of construction of the two stations. The final phase of construction, covering the installation of the tracks, electrical and mechanical systems, commenced on April 16, 2019. During construction, on March 10, 2017, a truck slammed in a concrete post of the east extension viaduct, killing one and injuring two.
|
