San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has begun the construction of the Metro Rail Transit line 7 (MRT-7) train depot facility located in a 20-hectare property in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
The depot, a key element of SMC Infrastructure’s first mass rail project, will have enough capacity to accommodate up to 150 train cars in all. This exceeds the 36 trainsets or 108 rail cars currently set for the project, to ensure enough room for future expansion, should the need for more trains based on commuter demand arise.
MRT-7’s trains are all made in South Korea by top rail systems provider, Hyundai Rotem, which is expected to fully deliver the full complement of 108 MRT-7 train cars to the country by the end of the year.
“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,” Ramon Ang, SMC president, 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.
Ang highlighted the significant benefits of the MRT-7 to the public, emphasizing that mass rail and mass transport projects are key to decongesting 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 the provinces.