The Transportation Department will procure 120 brand new light rail vehicles for the mass rail transit from Roosevelt station in Quezon City up to Baclaran in Parañaque City.
The project will be funded through a loan extended by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The auction will be exclusive to Japanese-led companies or consortia.
The LRT 1 is about to be extended to Bacoor, Cavite.
“With the upcoming 11.8-kilometer extension of LRT-1 comes the need to add more trains to the system. This will enable us to meet demand, and to maintain the right headway between arriving trains at the stations,” said Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.
“This is part of the massive modernization and upgrading efforts that have started not only for LRT-1 but for all our railways,” he said.
The 120 LRVs will be configured in 30 four-car train sets, to allow the rail line to accommodate up to about 750,000 passengers daily.
The winning bidder will cover the technical design of the coaches, procurement of materials required for manufacturing the LRVs, and ensure compliance with technical specifications through testing.
The Light Rail Manila Consortium earlier won the P64.9-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project.
The supplier will be required to submit a project management, design and development, as well as an inspection, testing and commissioning plans.
Prospective bidders may begin purchasing bid documents on October 16, while a pre-bid conference is scheduled on October 30.
The submission and opening of bids is scheduled on December 14.
The winning bidder will have three years to complete the delivery of the new LRVs, which will be done in two tranches: the first delivery is set in 2017, and the second in 2018.
Meanwhile, the LRMC will construct the Cavite Extension over the next four and a half years, making the entire line operational by the fourth quarter 2020.
LRMC has been operating and maintaining the existing LRT-1 system since the functions were handed over by LRTA last month.
LRTA remains the regulator of the railway, and along with the DoTC, is implementing agency of the 32-year public-private partnership concession agreement with LRMC.