The first Filipino designed electric-powered automated guideway transit system or AGTS is ready to roll down a 150-meter test track currently under construction at the sprawling Department of Science and Technology complex in Bicutan, Taguig City.
Two test-chassis of the AGTS will be ready next month, DOST Assistant Secretary Robert O. Dizon said. An engineer himself, Dizon closely supervises the AGTS design team composed of young DOST engineers with diverse engineering specializations.
DOST also expects the completion of a longer two-kilometer demonstration rail track at the University of the Philippines in Diliman by middle of the year.
“I believe that our AGTS design suits local conditions for mobility. We want to ease travel around highly populated urban centers particularly Metro Manila and the rapidly industrializing adjacent provinces”, DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo said.
Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino also said that AGTS could be an ideal transport mode around the historic Intramuros district. He cited the numerous schools within and around the famous walled city.
Montejo explained that rail mass transit system is not new in the Philippines. He cited the ageing railways system in Luzon that went on track during the Spanish colonial era.
The AGTS design team has considered the peculiar local geographic and urban development layout and tropical weather conditions in designing the AGTS, he added. It will also cost a lot less that imported mass transit systems currently operating in Metro Manila.
President Aquino expressed interest in the development of AGTS during a meeting with Montejo and other top DOST officials in Malacañang last December. [S&T Media Service]
The concept of the Filipino-designed electric-powered automated guideway transit
