The Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), a JV of the Ayala Corporation and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, has signed a PhP 450 million contract with Voith Digital Solutions Australia GmBH & Co. KG for the rehabilitation and upgradation of generation-2 trains LRT-1. The upgradation will be done over a period of two years. The project will be the first overhaul of generation 2 fleet’s propulsion system since the Philippine government bought the generation-2 trains from Hyundai and Adtranz Sweden in 1999. The current fleet of LRT-1 includes 51 generation-1 light rail vehicles (LRVs) bought in 1984, eight generation-2 LRVs bought in 1999 and 44 generation-3 LRVs bought in 2007. The Department of Transportation also signed an agreement for the procurement of 120 new LRVs in February 2018. These LRVs will be delivered in 2020. Further, LRMC has already completed the PhP 1 billion rehabilitation programme on generation-1 LRVs, resulting in an increase in the fleet from 77 to 109 LRVs and the number of daily trips from 498 to 554.
