Light Rail Manila Corporation


Light Rail Manila Corporation is a rail service company based in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is a consortium of three major infrastructure companies engaged in the operation and maintenance of the Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 1 since September 2015. The consortium is composed of Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Sumitomo Corporation, and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Pte. Ltd.
On May 29, 2020, the Sumitomo Corporation has acquired a 34.9 % stake of the company from the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.

History

The privatization of the entire maintenance and operation of the Manila Light Rail Transit Line 1 was the first infrastructure project under the Public-Private Partnership program of the Benigno Aquino III administration announced by the Department of Transportation in May 2011. The project's objectives were to attract billions of pesos of investments from the private sector in order to improve the system's severely deteriorated condition, as well as to relieve the government of its obligation to spend more than in annual subsidies just to keep the fares within reach of commuters.
The company was granted the concession in October 2014 and took over the Line 1 operations from the state-owned Light Rail Transit Authority on September 12, 2015. Under the 32-year concession agreement with the Department of Transportation and Light Rail Transit Authority, the company is mandated to carry out the rehabilitation of 11 substations of the Line 1 as well as to provide 100 new train coaches to the system. The concession also includes the South Extension Project or Cavite Extension Project of the Line 1 to Niog station in Cavite which officially begun construction on May 7, 2019 after several years of delay due to right-of-way issues as well as the north extension to the North Avenue Grand Central station in Quezon City whose exact location was settled in 2016 and which broke ground in September 2017.
Light Rail Manila Corporation's parent companies Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp. have earlier been awarded the tap-and-go fare payment system project for all three rail transit lines in Metro Manila, the Beep smart card rolled out in July 2015 through another joint venture in AF Payments Incorporated, as well as the automated fare collection system project which was rolled out in December 2015. The company is also bidding for the Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 2 PPP and the North-South Railway Project of the Philippine National Railways which includes the rehabilitation and operation of the Tutuban-Legazpi line.