MANILA - The government agency in charge of operating the LRT-2 said the railway won't be able to resume operations on Monday, Oct. 7 due to continuing safety concerns.
The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) earlier said it was studying if it could resume partial operation from Cubao to Recto on Monday, but the head of agency on Sunday said this would not be possible.
"We did our best but due to the complexity of the problem, we were not able to complete the test runs and safety checks of the telecommunication system today," said LRTA Administrator Reynaldo Berroya.
The LRT-2 suspended operations last Thursday after a fire damaged a section of railway between the Anonas and Katipunan stations. The LRTA warned that it may take at least 9 months to restore operations in the Anonas, Katipunan and Santolan stations.
"We cannot compromise the safety of everyone so we need to thoroughly check the integrity and stability of LRT-2 structures and equipment before we resume operations," Berroya added.
The LRTA said it will "resume LRT-2 operations partially from Cubao to Recto once the signaling, telecommunications and power supply systems and the trains are cleared and in normal condition."
Meanwhile, the agency said it will deploy 30 buses and 20 modernized jeepneys on Monday from 5 a.m. to 10:30 pm at the LRT-2's Santolan station to ferry affected passengers to Cubao and back.
"Fares will be from P12 to P15 and these are comparable to the train fare for the same routes," the agency said.
There will be dedicated loading and unloading bays for the PUVs in front of the Santolan Station and near Mcdonald's underneath the Araneta Center-Cubao station, the LRTA said. The buses will make stops at Anonas and Katipunan Stations to load and unload passengers.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will also provide free rides to passengers from Santolan to Cubao and vice versa from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, the LRTA said.
An extension of the LRT-2 to Antipolo is targetted to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2020. It is not known how the damage to the railway will affect the planned opening of the extension.