San Miguel Corporation starts construction of MRT-7 depot
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31) — San Miguel Corporation (SMC) on Tuesday said its infrastructure arm has started construction work on the MRT-7 train depot in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan which can accommodate up to 150 train cars.
“This is yet another important milestone reached by our MRT-7 team, who have been diligently working for several years now, even throughout this pandemic, not only to build the physical structure of the rail system, but also to overcome the many right-of-way and property-related challenges faced by a project of this scale,” SMC president and CEO Ramon Ang said in a statement.
“With the necessary land area for the MRT-7 depot finally complete, we can’t waste any more time; our people are fully committed to delivering this vital project to the public as soon as possible,” he added.
SMC said the depot in the 20-hectare property will also house essential facilities for the maintenance and operations of the trains. By the end of 2023, it is seen to be ready to support essential operations of the rail line, Ang said.
The depot's capacity exceeds the 36 trainsets or 108 rail cars currently set for the project to ensure enough room for future expansion, SMC added.
The trains are made in South Korea by Hyundai Rotem, which is expected to deliver the full complement of 108 MRT-7 train cars to the country by end of this year, the company said.
READ: New train sets for MRT-7 unveiled
At present, Ang said the project completion is at over 60%, with most of the construction work focused on the first 12 of its 14 stations.
Department of Transportation Undersecretary TJ Batan recently said the MRT-7 is eyed to start partial operations by the end of the year while full operations are expected by 2023.
READ: Quezon City-Bulacan train service to start partial ops by December 2022
Some of the benefits of the MRT-7 include traffic decongestion in Metro Manila, easing traffic on public roads, lowering harmful emissions that result from hours of stand-still traffic, boosting productivity, and decentralizing economic growth to benefit other provinces, Ang said.
