Mass Rapid Transit Manila

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Route network (2015)
The LRT1 line train arrives at the “Taft” station

With MRT Manila refers to the light rail system in the Philippine capital Manila . It was first put into operation on December 1, 1984 with the LRT 1 line, expanded further in the following years and currently has three lines. Over 1.3 million passengers are transported every day.

General operation

The operating times are from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the latest (depending on the line and day of the week). During rush hour , the train sequence is 3 minutes, otherwise 5 to 7 minutes. The fare is between 10 and 20  PHP per single trip, depending on the distance to be traveled. Since September 9, 2001, magnetically coded chip cards have been used as tickets, replacing the previous tokens. They are available as single tickets and as 100 PHP value tickets. The latter can be used several times until the amount loaded is "exhausted". With these 100 PHP tickets, the passenger also receives a Last Ride Bonus , i. H. the last trip is still possible in any case, even if the remaining credit on the card is already less than the regular fare for the corresponding route. The ticket prices have not increased since the early 2000s and are still at a maximum of 15 pesos per single journey on lines 2 and 3. On line 1, the maximum price was adjusted to a maximum of 20 pesos after the route in the north was extended. Overall, the fares are significantly below the prices for bus tickets on comparable routes. Due to the massive increase in operating costs, however, a price increase in two stages of 5 pesos each was announced for 2013 and 2014. Even after this planned increase in fares, the operation is nowhere near cost-covering and must be massively subsidized by the state. According to the DOTC ( Department of Transportation and Communications , in German Ministry of Transport and Communication ), for example, the transport of a passenger on line 3 from the start to the end station cost around 60 pesos - four times the ticket price of 15 pesos at the time. This results in government subsidies of 7 to 9 billion pesos annually for this line alone. Initially, however, the planned fare increase was not implemented. No consensus could be found in a public hearing in December 2013, and the envisaged increase was massively criticized by consumer advocates and interest groups.

In the event of operational disruptions, "Code Yellow 1" indicates train delays and "Code Yellow 2" indicates train cancellations due to technical disruptions. The first car of each train may only be used by women .

Lines 1 and 2 are operated by the LTRA (Light Rail Transit Authority), a state-owned company. Line 3, on the other hand, is operated by MRTC (Metro Rail Transit Corporation), a private company, as part of an operator model under the license of the DOTC.

In 2015, the card readers in the entrance area of ​​the stations were modernized. In the course of this, the former 100 PHP value tickets were replaced by so-called beep cards. This is a rechargeable smart card for contactless payment using NFC technology . The Beep card system is operated by AF Payments Incorporated. In addition to the three LRT / MRT lines, the cards are also accepted as a means of payment on some bus routes, at toll stations and even occasionally in shops. A further expansion of the acceptance points is planned. These smart cards are available for a price of 20 PHP at the ticket counters at the train stations and can be topped up with a credit of up to 10,000 PHP, which is then valid for a maximum of 4 years. Regardless of this, there are still tickets for single trips.

Ticket for lines 1 and 2

Route network

Line 1 / green line ( formerly yellow line )

The route is elevated on prefabricated concrete stilts ( earthquake-proof ) as an elevated railway and runs from north to south parallel to Rizal- and Taft-Allee for 8 km. When it was commissioned in June 1985, the route was extended by 8 km. A total of 18 stops are supplied on the 15 km long route. The stops can only be reached via stairs as there are no escalators or elevators . There are transfer options to buses and jeepneys at the stops Central, Monumento (northern terminus) and Baclaran (southern terminus). In the trains, the sections right at the beginning and at the end of each train are reserved for people in need (senior citizens, disabled people, nursing mothers and mothers with children). Immediately afterwards there are sections that can only be used by women. The track width is 1435 mm ( standard gauge ), the voltage of the overhead line is 750  V . Initially only trains from the Belgian company BN ACEC were used. These were 8-axle wagons 2.5 m wide and 29.28 m long, each of which can carry a maximum of 374 passengers. They ran in the configuration of two, later three cars per train. In 2001 a general overhaul and modernization of the trains was completed with the help of the Belgian manufacturer, and in April 2002 a general overhaul of the LRT 1 railway systems. Since then, all trains have been air-conditioned. In the following years, the Belgian trains were supplemented by further trains from Hyundai Rotem , Adtranz and Nippon Sharyo in order to increase capacity, so that today trains from four different manufacturers run on Line 1.

Line 2 / blue line ( formerly purple line )

The line known colloquially as "Megatren" runs from the west ( Manila ) via Quezon City to the east in Pasig. Except for the Katipunan station, it is also guided on viaducts . Construction began in 1998 with eleven stops on 13.8 km, which are located along Recto-Allee, Magsaysay-Boulevard and Aurora-Boulevard. A pedestrian bridge connecting it to Line 1 was opened in spring 2005. All trains on Line 2 come from the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem and are air-conditioned.

Line 3 / yellow line ( formerly blue line )

The line called "Metrostar" by the population runs along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) ring road . It started operations on December 16, 1999 and has had a transfer connection to Line 1 at the EDSA / Taft Avenue stop since July 20, 2000 (station name on Line 1 is EDSA). Another option is to change to line 2 at the Cubao / Araneta Center station. The total length today is 16.8 km with a total of 13 stops. As with the other two lines, the route also follows viaducts with the exception of the Buendia stop, which is underground. The trains used on this line are the Tatra RT8D5 model from the Czech manufacturer ČKD Tatra . All trains are air-conditioned. In 2017, the previous 73 Czech trains were to be supplemented by 48 newly purchased trains from China in order to cope with the increased number of passengers. However, these new trains cannot yet be used as there are both problems with the safety technology of the Chinese trains and difficulties with the power supply capacity of the existing MRT-3 system.

In the first few months after opening, the number of users remained well below expectations. The reasons given were the high fare compared to the prices for bus tickets at the time and the difficult access to the stops only via stairs. In the following years, however, the number of passengers increased significantly and are now well above the planned capacity, which is evident from the notoriously overcrowded trains. Originally designed for 350,000 passengers per day, around 600,000 people now use Line 3 every day.

Modernization and further expansion

line 1

A modernization of the trains that have been in operation since the 1980s seems urgently needed. This takes place in two stages, first of all the trains are exchanged for larger and wider wagons. In an intermediate step, the previous trains will be extended from 2 to 3 wagons. In addition, 7 trains with 4 air-conditioned wagons each are purchased. The new 6-axle wagons are 2.59 m wide and 26.5 m long and can each carry a maximum of 450 passengers. They have 4 doors on each side and are driven by an AC induction motor. In the next phase, the number of passengers is to be increased. The capacity is currently 27,000 passengers in each direction during rush hour. This is to be increased to 40,000 passengers by new trains. This requires the purchase of 12 more trains, each with 4 wagons, as well as modernization of the signaling systems, train radio systems, power supply and distribution, ticket controls and construction work at some stops and the depots in order to adapt to the new trains. With an extension of the line in the north, Quezon City has had a direct connection to Line 3 since 2012, but there is still no common station that enables passengers to cross over directly. To date, Line 1 ends at Roosevelt Station and there is a gap of around 1.4 km to the North Avenue station of Line 3. The construction of the joint station, originally planned in 2009, was delayed several times due to legal disputes regarding the location of this joint Station. December 2017 was last mentioned as the new date for the start of construction, in fact the construction work finally began on May 7, 2018. At this joint station, a transition to the new line 7, which is currently under construction, should then be possible in the future. There are also plans to build an additional stop in Caloocan City.

Line 2

If necessary, the line can be extended in the west to North Harbor. An extension to the east by 4 km should already connect two new stations in Cainta and Masinag / Antipolo ( Rizal ) to the network by 2016 . However, there were delays in implementation. After construction began in May 2017, the expansion is now expected to go into operation in April 2019. The connection is expected to be of great benefit to the communities of Marikina , Cainta and Antipolo . According to a survey by the NSO, the latter is currently the fastest growing city in the Philippines.

Line 3

In a northerly direction, line 3 first ended at the North Avenue stop in Quezon City. The gap to Monumento, Caloocan City with the transition to line 1 was missing. After the extension of line LRT 1 in an easterly direction, the gap in the track has been closed since mid-2012, but the joint station is still missing, the construction of which was delayed several times, which ultimately led to the The aim is to enable passengers to have a direct transition between the two lines. The capacity of line 3 is designed for 350,000 passengers a day, but in fact up to 600,000 people are transported per day. In February 2013, the Metro Manila administration decided to purchase 52 additional cars for MRT Line 3. This increases the line's capacity by 60 to 70%.

Lines 4 and 5

In addition to the three existing lines, a fourth is planned to run from Manila (Recto-Boulevard) to Fairview, Quezon City, along España, Quezon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue.

A fifth line is to connect Manila with the towns of San Juan, Mandaluyong, Taguig and Makati and also connect Manila's international airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport , to the route network.

Line 6 (also called Line 1 South )

Studies have shown that a southern extension of Line 1 to the suburbs of Parañaque and Las Piñas, as well as the connection to the province of Cavite, would make sense. It is expected to be 11.7 km long, the majority of it will be led over viaducts, only 1.2 km will be built at ground level. Eight new stops are planned, and two more stations can be built if necessary. The new tracks will be backwards compatible with the current line, so that the entire route can also be used with the old trains without interruption. The construction phase for line 6 is planned for 2013 to 2018.

Line 7

Line 7, also known as the MRT-7 project, is currently under construction. Starting in Quezon City with the transition to line 3 at the North Avenue / Edsa station, the new line will run over 14 stations with a route length of 22 km via Caloocan to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan . The planned terminus of Line 7 in Bulacan will be the first MRT station outside of Metro Manila.

Web links

Commons : Metro Manila  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c inquirer.net: MRT LRT prices may rise in August , accessed July 30, 2013
  2. ↑ Ticket prices ( Memento from January 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ No consensus on MRT / LRT fare increase , accessed on January 31, 2014
  4. ↑ beeptopay.com: Beep card operator's website , accessed on July 9, 2017
  5. ↑ www.philstar.com: Will MRT 3 ever be able to use new trains? Retrieved July 9, 2017
  6. ↑ CNN Philippines: Joint MRT LRT station to be built , accessed July 9, 2017
  7. ↑ Norderweiterung Update ( Memento of February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), accessed on January 31, 2014
  8. ↑ Eastern expansion update ( Memento of February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), accessed on January 31, 2014
  9. ↑ www.businessmirror.com.ph: LRT-2 expansion project Masinag ready for operation until April 2019 (English), accessed on February 24, 2019
  10. ↑ Balintawak Roosevelt continue operations ( Memento from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ ABS-CBN News: MRT 3 gets 52 additional cars , accessed on May 5, 2013
  12. ↑ Cavitex Update ( Memento of February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), accessed on January 31, 2014
  13. ↑ inquirer.net: MRT 7 construction on course , accessed on May 5, 2013