DOST Secretary Mario Montejo and UP President Alfredo Pascual lead the groundbreaking ceremony for the Automated Guideway Transit prototype on July 18, 8AM at Jacinto cor. Lakandula Streets, UP Diliman campus. The event was sealed by the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement by Sec. Montejo, Pres. Pascual, DOST-Metals Industry Research and Development Center Director Arthur Lucas Cruz, UP Diliman Chancellor Caesar Saloma, DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development Director Amelia Guevara, and UP Vice President for Development Elvira Zamora.
The AGT, developed by the Department of Science and Technology initially for UP Diliman, is a rail-based local mass transit very similar to the MRT and LRT, except that it runs on a single rail which acts as its sole support and guideway.
“We are coming up with a local AGT to address the severe lack of less expensive and environmentally sustainable technology alternatives,” said DOST Secretary Mario Montejo. “The AGT is developed to show Filipino ingenuity and capability in engineering and as a model for adoption in other urban areas in the Philippines.”
DOST Asec. Robert Dizon, project leader, said that President Aquino wants the AGT project to be tested thoroughly. “The President wants quality to be translated to commuter safety and transport reliability” he said.
A group of engineers from UP Diliman are working with DOST on this project. The prototype will have two 60-passenger coaches to run on a 56-meter, to be extended into two-kilometer, test track in the campus. Framelia V. Anonas, S&T Media Service
