North Avenue LRT Station
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North Avenue LRT station
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|---|---|
| Manila Light and Manila Metro Rail Transit Systems | |
| Other names | Unified Grand Central Station |
| Platforms | Side platforms |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | Elevated |
| Other information | |
| Status | Approved |
North Avenue LRT station (official temporary designation Unified Grand Central Station) is the proposed interchange station that will connect LRT-1, MRT-3 and the southern terminus of the proposed MRT-7 The station is planned to be located in Barangay Bagong Pag–asa in Quezon City and is named after its location, which is at the corner of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) and North Avenue.
The common alignment, which aims to link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 to the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Lines 3 and 7, has been in limbo since the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) reviewed the project’s technical and financial components years back. It was in January 2017 that an agreement was reached to build the station.
On June 2, 2011, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) called for bidders for the contract to build the station, which was estimated to cost PhP1.5 billion. But on July 13 of that year, then-Secretary of Transportation and Communications Mar Roxas announced a review of the project and considering adding store space for lease. The government, by that time, had allotted PhP2 billion for its construction.
Moreover, a BusinessWorld article dated July 22, 2012 cites that the government has shelved the project indefinitely due to the Philippine financial crisis in favor of demolition of the tracks and pillars. Secretary Roxas announced that the common station was "being studied by engineers because it is not really included in the original plan" of the MRT-3 and that problems may arise with regards to the trains' loop timing. He included that in the event that the station does not go through, the PhP200 million paid by SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the operator of SM City North EDSA and other SM Malls, to the Light Rail Transit Authority for naming rights may have to be returned.
However, at the start of the year 2013, Roxas' successor new Transportation and Communications secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya cites that the government has cancelled and abandoned the project indefinitely because the construction of the common station was supposed to be completed back in May 2010 during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but disputes over cost, engineering issues and naming rights caused due to the halting of the project by Arroyo's successor President Benigno Aquino III on January 2, 2013. No plans of transfer the grand central station (Malvar or TriNoma Mall).
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