As an early Christmas gift of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s administration to train commuters, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced on Thursday that Phase 1 of the Light Rail Transit-1 (LRT-1) Cavite Extension will open this month.

“We are here to announce the partial opening of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Extension — this is the Cavite Extension. We will open this line within the next maybe two to three weeks, this is within November,” DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

Bautista made the announcement during a press briefing at the Malacañan Palace. He said the Cavite Extension will be the first railway project to be completed under President Marcos’ administration.

Developed through a Public-Private Partnership, the first phase will connect Baclaran Station in Pasay City to Dr. Santos Station in Parañaque City. It’s expected to reduce travel time by 30 minutes.

The extension is also projected to serve an additional 80,000 passengers daily.

“We hope that this opening of the extension of Line 1 will help alleviate traffic as it will be able to support thousands of passengers, additional passengers taking LRT Line 1. And this will be our early Christmas gift to the residents of the area,” Bautista said.

Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) General Manager Enrico Benipayo said Phase 1 will include five new stations.

“We are also very much excited to open the line. Again within this month, surely within the month of November we will be able to serve an extended area of the metropolis. Five additional stations, six kilometers, and this will allow people to traverse the alignment within a span of less than an hour,” Benipayo said.

“The total alignment of LRT 1 will be extended from 20 kilometers to 26 kilometers for Phase 1 of the Cavite Extension,” he added. | PND