North Avenue Grand Central Station

North Avenue Common Station
North Avenue Common Station
	Common Station
Other names	Unified Grand Central Station / North Avenue Station
Location	Epifanio de los Santos Avenue cor. North Avenue, Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, Diliman, Quezon City
Owned by	Department of Transportation; Metro Rail Transit Corporation
Operated by	Light Rail Manila Corporation ; Metro Rail Transit Corporation ; Department of Transportation ; SMC-Mass Rail Transit 7 Incorporated
Line(s)	Line 1; Line 3; Line 7; Line 9
Platforms	3 side platforms for Line 1 Line 3 Line 7; 1 island platform for Line 9 (Metro Manila Subway)
Tracks	4 Standard-gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) tracks
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Parking	Yes (TriNoma, SM City North EDSA)
Other information
Status	Under construction
Station code	NA
History
Opening	Area A (Lines 1 and 3): 2020 ; Area C (Line 7) and Area D (Line 9): 2022
Services

The North Triangle Common Station (official temporary designation: Unified Grand Central Station,[1] also called Grand Central Station), commonly known as the Common Station, is an under-construction,[2] rapid transit terminal and transport hub that will connect Line 1, Line 3, the southern terminus of the under construction Line 7,[3] and in the future, the Line 9 (Metro Manila Subway). It is located in Barangay Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City, Philippines, and is named after its location, which is at the corner of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) and North Avenue.[4]

The common alignment, which aims to link Lines 1, 3, and 7, had been in limbo for years since the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), now Department of Transportation (DOTr), reviewed the project's technical and financial components.[5] It was in January 2017 that an agreement was reached to build the station.

Groundbreaking of the station was held at the North Triangle Transport Terminal last September 29, 2017. The station was expected to open in 2020,[6] then delayed to 2022.

Negotiations

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.[3] 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 2 billion pesos for its construction.[4]

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 Line 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 200 million pesos 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.

On January 9, 2013 cites that the government has filed for the candidacies for three sites of the common station linking three rapid transit systems for Metro Manila, DOTC is not keen on build the common station in front of the Annex Building of the SM City North EDSA Shopping Mall, adding that other potential locations are the TriNoma Mall and the Line 1 Malvar station in Caloocan City. Abaya said the agency is awaiting the results of a study that would determine the final location of the common station. He had said the original design near SM City North EDSA Annex was "ineffective and costly" because the rails of Line 3 would have to be extended and trains would have to be added.[7]

Then DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said that SM would be able to keep the naming rights for the station, even if it is transferred near rival Ayala's TriNoma mall.[8]

This led to the change of the station's location, which was initially set to be near SM City North EDSA, earning the ire of the group of the country's largest mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc., which paid an initial P200 million for the naming rights of the station.

Transportation officials have repeatedly said building the station near TriNoma is both economically and environmentally viable, as this would result in a lower cost and less urban blight.

SM Prime then brought its battle to the Supreme Court, which issued a stay order against the DOTC and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) in June 2014, enjoining them to stop the transfer of the common alignment's location.[5]

Then DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya also said in the previous interviews that they planned to build two common stations in order to resolve the location issue.

Agreement

Trinoma Transport Terminal, later the site of Common Station, taken in 2016

At a business forum held on August 12, 2016, Department of Transportation (now abbreviated as DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade said that all stakeholders namely Metro Pacific Corporation, SMC-Mass Rail Transit 7 Inc. of San Miguel Corporation, SM Prime Holdings, and Ayala Corporation had agreed in principle that the common station will be built in North Avenue between the Southeast end of SM North EDSA and North side of the TriNoma Mall.[9]

Negotiations took about 8 years for the station to be built near SM North EDSA and TriNoma.[10]

A memorandum of agreement was signed by the station's stakeholders on January 18, 2017.[1]

Naming

On 2009, SM Prime Holdings which owns SM North EDSA secured naming rights for the station by paying ₱200 million while Ayala which owns TriNoma contributed ₱150 million which also made it eligible for naming rights.[1] In January 2017 it was agreed that naming rights of both SM Prime Holdings and Ayala will be honored and until the two companies agreed upon a name, the station shall be temporarily called as the Unified Grand Central Station.[1]

Construction

Site inspection by officials of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Construction of the station is set to begin within 2017 and is planned to be completed in the last quarter of 2019. Three areas were designated for the project with each area with its own developers. Area A which will host a platform and concourse for Lines 1 and 3 will be developed by the Department of Transportation. Area B, which covers two concourses that will connect Areas A and C will be developed by NTDCC, an affiliate of Ayala Land. San Miguel Corporation will develop and finance Area C which will host the Line 7 platform. By January 2017 the projected cost for the station is ₱2.8 billion .[10]

Station layout

The station will have four levels, with the ground level being the street level that connects to the transport terminal in TriNoma and also entrance/exit points in EDSA and North Avenue. The 2nd level serves as the concourse of the station with ticketing counters for all lines, with connections to SM City North EDSA, TriNoma and the Paramount Footbridge (going to West Avenue). The third floor serves as the platforms for Line 1, 3 and 7.

The physical station of Line 9 is planned to be built underground several hundred meters away, near the Veteran's Memorial Medical Center Golf Course along the Mindanao Avenue- North Avenue intersection. The planned connection of Line 9 to the rest of the station structure is via an underground walkway.[11]