LIGHT RAIL Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) operator Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) said it is allocating P100 million to upgrade its surveillance system.
In a statement on Thursday, the company said it tapped Filipino firm Commsec, Inc. for its new closed-circuit television (CCTV) system, which is expected to improve safety in the train line.
“Commsec will install almost 500 high resolution surveillance cameras with increased storage capacity to ensure the safety and security of passengers and employees in and around LRT-1’s passenger stations, depot and other facilities,” Juan F. Alfonso, LRMC president and chief executive officer, said in the statement.
The new CCTV cameras will monitor the train doors, which will be projected on a monitor that the train driver will see. LRMC said this will ensure all doors are safely shut as a train car moves from one station to another.
The new surveillance system would also be equipped with technology that could count the number of passengers in a station’s queue line. It will likewise keep an eye on guarded locations for any security breach.
“With the upgrade, which is estimated to take two years to complete, crowd monitoring will be more effective. This will also later on feed into an automated system that will inform passengers which stations are heavy, moderate or light, thus helping them plan their trips better,” Mr. Alfonso added.
LRMC is the consortium of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.
Metro Pacific Investment Corp. is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez
