The Light Rail Transit Authority has recorded the most number of passengers at its Monumento-Baclaran system or Line 1 on Friday during the Black Nazarene celebration, hitting the 582,989 mark.

LRTA administrator Mel Robles said the figure was the highest in 25 years of commercial operations.

The Jan. 9 volume topped 542,605 passengers recorded on Dec. 16, 1996.

The agency allowed the entry of barefoot devotees, acquiescing to traditional practice. It also augmented security with K9 dogs, medical and customer relations staff, adding tellers at stations on UN Avenue, Central, Carriedo, D. Jose and Recto.

Despite the surge, the volume was way below Line 1?s carrying capacity of 1.3 million passengers a day.

?With the heavy influx of passengers, the LRTA?s Operation Department had to deploy some of its train crew supervisors to drive the trains and augment its train operators for the continuous fielding of its 31 trains at 2 minutes interval,? Robles said.

He attributed the new record to the LRTA?s Capacity Expansion Project (Phase II), which was completed in 2007, alongside refurbishing of all down trains.

?Because of Capex II and our rehabilitation efforts, we now have more trains to service passengers and bigger station with more tellers? booths,? Robles said.

The agency?s Line 1 now has 139 coaches that can be configured into 3-car or 4-car train combinations, depending on passenger demand, with a daily capacity of 1.31 million passengers.

The Santolan-Recto Line 2 has 16 train sets, capable of transporting 730,240 passengers a day. Roderick T. dela Cruz