North Avenue Grand Central Station

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.

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]

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]

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]

Line 1	Line 3	Line 7 Under construction	Line 9 (Metro Manila Subway) Under construction
North Avenue (under construction) ( 3  7  9 ) Roosevelt Balintawak North Luzon Expressway Quezon City Caloocan Monumento 5th Avenue Caloocan Manila R. Papa Abad Santos Blumentritt  PNR  Tayuman Bambang Doroteo Jose  2  Carriedo Pasig River Central Terminal United Nations Pedro Gil Quirino Vito Cruz Manila Pasay Gil Puyat Libertad EDSA  3  Pasay Depot Baclaran ↓ under construction Pasay Parañaque Redemptorist Manila International Airport Asia World Ninoy Aquino Dr. A. Santos Parañaque Las Piñas Las Piñas Las Piñas Bacoor Zapote Depot Zapote Niog	Quirino Highway Baclaran future interchange North Avenue  1  7  9    San Jose Del Monte   North Avenue Depot Quezon Avenue  8  9  Lerma - University Avenue     FTI   NAIA Terminal 3 Kamuning   Recto - Santolan - Masinag Araneta Center–Cubao  2  Santolan Quezon City Mandaluyong Ortigas  4  Shaw Boulevard Boni Mandaluyong   Pasig River   Makati Guadalupe  5  EDSA - Sampaguita   Buendia Ayala  5  Magallanes  PNR  Gov. Pascual-Valenzuela / Tutuban   FTI / Alabang / Calamba South Luzon Expressway Makati Pasay Taft Avenue  1  Roosevelt - Baclaran - Niog	San Jose del Monte San Jose del Monte Caloocan Tala Sacred Heart Caloocan Quezon City Depot Quirino Mindanao Avenue Regalado Doña Carmen Manggahan Batasan Don Antonio Tandang Sora University Avenue Quezon Memorial North Avenue Grand Central Station  1  3  9	Valenzuela depot Valenzuela Quezon City Quirino Highway Tandang Sora North Avenue Grand Central Station  3 ( 1  7 ) Quezon Avenue  3 ( 8 ) MRT Line 3 to Taft East Avenue Anonas  2  LRT Line 2 to Recto - to Santolan Katipunan Quezon City Pasig Ortigas North ( 4 ) Ortigas South Pasig River Pasig Makati Kalayaan ( 5 ) Makati Taguig Bonifacio Global City Lawton East PNR Metro Commuter Line to Governor Pascual/Tutuban Nichols Lawton West  PNR  FTI (PNR)  PNR  PNR Metro Commuter Line to Alabang/Calamba Taguig Pasay NAIA Terminal 3

• List of rail transit stations in Metro Manila
• Manila Light Rail Transit System