After being shut down last month following an accident involving two coaches, the Light Rail Transit's (LRT) Balintawak and Roosevelt stations in Quezon City may resume operations in two weeks, the LRT Administration said. In a news release posted on its website on Wednesday, the LRTA said functional testing and safety inspections had been completed. "(Functional) testing and safety inspection have already been completed and same yielded need for the introduction of several operational procedures to further ensure public safety," LRTA spokesman lawyer Hernando Cabrera said. "Our top consideration for the re-opening of the two stations is the safety assurance and convenience of the riding public," Cabrera added. Cabrera said LRTA chief Rafael Rodriguez ordered the following actions:
evaluation of the LRT systems and procedures; review of safety policy; re-training, and administration of a semi-annual driving test to all train operators. More safety precautions and procedures are being implemented to avoid similar incidents in the future, Cabrera said. On February 18, an empty train making a maneuver collided against a parked train. No one was injured but an investigation showed that the operator of one of the coaches was looking at his mobile phone at the time of the accident. The incident also caused minor damage to the body of the third-generation Japan-made four-car train and the first-generation Belgian-made three-car train. The LRT immediately halted the operations of Balintawak and Roosevelt stations after its two empty trains on opposite directions figured in the incident in front of SM Annex. The two stations are part of the North Extension Project set to be completed in the mid of 2012. Part of the project is the construction of the common station that will link LRT-1 to MRT-3. – VVP, GMA News 
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