The Light Rail Transit Authority’s Monumento-Baclaran system (Line 1) would start its commercial operation up to North Avenue in Quezon City on February next year, LRTA Administrator Melquiades Robles said Sunday.

This as Robles said that the “Closing-the-Loop” project which will connect the Monumento station of Line 1 to the Metro Rail Transit’s North Avenue station through an entirely elevated 5.4 km viaduct would already be completed by next month.

“We can close the loop by December then we’ll start commercial operation on February (2010),” Robles said in an interview at the sidelines of the launch of the LRTA’s Bike On, Bike Off project.

President Arroyo has ordered early this year that the project be completed by December 2009 instead of the original target of May 2010.

The project is being fast-tracked by DMCI First Balfour joint venture consortium which won the contract for the project.

The LRT North extension project, dubbed “Closing-the-Loop” project was started in July last year.

The project will also include the construction of three new stations – Balintawak, Roosevelt and North Stations.

The LRTA recently accepted a P200-million ‘Closing-the-Loop’ project to operate in Februarygrant from SM Prime Holdings, (SMPHI) to partially finance the construction of the common station interconnecting the respective rail systems of the LRTA, MRT and the Universal LRT Corporation of MRT7 project in front of SM City North EDSA mall.