The San Miguel Corporation (SMC) conglomerate announced that they're planning to extend the MRT-7 farther to Bocaue in Bulacan. Their P63-billion project which is the MRT-7 is looked to be extended farther north to provide access to more customers in the northern hemisphere.
Ramon Ang, SMC President and Chief Operations Officer (COO) said that SMC already submitted a proposal for the MRT-7 extension to Bocaue. Currently, the project's endpoint is at San Jose Del Monte, also in Bulacan.
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MRT-7 extension to Bocaue
If you are in the know of the MRT-7 project currently under construction by the SMC, you know that it holds the utmost importance to the lives of commuters and people living in the north. With an MRT-7 extension to Bocaue, it's going to be a big relief.
Originally, the MRT-7 project would run for 23 kilometers with a total of thirteen (13) stations. This project is expected to be completed by the year 2022 and it'll be connecting North Avenue in Quezon City up to San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan.
The travel time, as per the conglomerate, would be cut down to just 34 minutes, a regular time for a train ride; but it involves faster commuting especially to those who are struggling to get a ride during peak hours.
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Ang said that they're already involved with different talks and meetings to connect the last station, San Jose Del Monte to Bocaue in Bulacan.
Yes, we are in talks that hopefully we connect from San Jose Del Monte to Bocaue. Hopefully we can complete that by 2022 up to Bocaue if we are allowed to do an extension so that it can reach the Philippine Arena."
In addition to that, e also said that the MRT-7 extension to Bocaue could be an alternative to the previous plans they've had on constructing San Jose Del Monte to Bocaue via an expressway.
This was the old road component. We want to make it a train. The road will pass through the municipalities of San Jose del Monte, Sta. Maria, Pandi, Bocaue and Balagtas."
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Depot openings
Ang, however, decided not to give more details about the said project. He said that all people can know now is that the MRT-7 will be a reality because of the opened depots for the stations and that by 2021, they'll be able to start little operations.
Now MRT-7 is a reality with the opening of the depot and for sure we will open that MRT-7 by 2021 at least."
Currently, the MRT-7 extension to Bocaue is still in the parking lot of the Philippine government. However, in terms of completion rate, it is at 49 percent as of early November (October end-date) according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
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Moreover, the SMC said that they're expecting partial operations to begin by 2021 from North EDSA station to Fairview. Even if it's just partial, it's still a drastic improvement to the commuting life of daily countrymen who strive hard to get from one point to another.
Back in 2016 when SMC unearthed plans of setting-up a railway, they had mentioned that the P63-billion MRT-7 would be able to carry about 300,000 to 850,000 passengers on a daily basis.
Right of way issues
On the darker side, the project has seen too much delays because of the right of way issues and major obstacles concerning the construction of the highly-anticipated railway. But last month, a major obstruction was removed when the DOTr took control of a Quezon City estate to be used as an MRT-7 depot.
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The long-awaited train ride for people in the north is seen to be connected to MRT-3 and LRT1. Furthermore, it's also seen to complement with the Metro Manila Subway in which the North Avenue would be the common station.
Once the MRT-7 starts its partial operations, people would definitely feel the lighter weight of traveling. The train can remove more than 10,000 cars on the road and can be useful in terms of soliciting healthier, better, and easier traffic for motorists and commuters.
Hopefully, the MRT-7 extension to Bocaue would be a reality. This would greatly eliminate the need of people using cars to use the train as an alternative to their daily or occasional travels.
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What do you think about the MRT-7 extension to Bocaue? Could this aid in the ease of public transportation our government is forcing? Can this help in providing better traffic flows in major highways?
Source: The Philippine Star | The Philippine Daily Inquirer
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