LRT-1 to conduct trial runs on its 4th generation trains

The trains that ply the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines in the Philippines, while still functional are getting long in the tooth. This is why the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) which is a private operator of LTR-1 has announced that it will soon be doing test runs of its brand-new 4th generation train sets along the existing line. These new trains will be seen running along the LRT line 1 at night, during off-hours, and during weekends in order to stress test the durability, reliability, and performance of these trains. Aside from this, LRMC will also be testing the train set’s compliance with the technical and operational requirements needed by the company.

We would like to inform our passengers that they will now start seeing brand-new Gen-4 trains along the LRT line 1, but they still cannot ride these Gen-4 trains yet. We are conducting these trial runs to simulate regular commercial operations and to make sure that these trains are safe for the passengers once we put them to commercial service soon.

Enrico S. Benipayo
LRMC Chief Operating Officer

LRMC is expected to test a total of 30 Gen-4 train sets with each consisting of four light rail vehicles. All of these units will be put into a series of dynamic test runs and it will be done in several phases. While not much was revealed about what the actual testing will consist of, it appears that two or three of these train sets will be tested by crossing the mainline per day, with testing done in the off-hours to ensure that it does not interfere with the regular commute of people.

As a bit of a backgrounder, these Gen-4 trains are manufactured by Mitsubishi Corporation and by Construcciones Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles of Spain. These trainsets will have a total capacity of 1,300 passengers. As for its dimensions, it measures 106 meters in length, and 2.59 meters in width, and will have a maximum speed of up to 70 km/h.