title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Due to the high ridership of the line, a proposal under study by the DOTC and NEDA proposed to double the current capacity by acquiring additional light rail vehicles to accommodate over 520,000 passengers a day.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In January 2014, the DOTC entered into a contract with CNR Dalian for the procurement of 48 light rail vehicles. The trains, commonly referred to as the Dalian trains, were delivered in batches from 2015 to 2017. The introduction of the new trains will allow the line to now handle over 800,000 passengers.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The first train was scheduled to be in revenue service before April 2016 but delays in its test run had delayed its deployment for revenue service. The trains entered service on May 7, 2016.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: However, the trains became a subject of controversy, citing its incompatibility with the signalling system and weight limits on tracks. Later, it was revealed that several adjustments to the Dalian trains are required prior to revenue run deployment. The train manufacturer CRRC Dalian has agreed to amend the train specifications to match the contract terms at no cost, and will do so in the soonest possible time. Due to the Dalian trains undergoing said adjustments, they are now slowly being introduced into revenue runs, which led to the start of the gradual deployment of the trains on October 27, 2018.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Aside from the procurement of the new trains, the capacity expansion project included the upgrading of the ancillary systems such as the power supply, overhead lines, the extension of the pocket track near Taft Avenue station and the modification of the turn back siding north of the North Avenue station. The original plan also included the upgrading of the signalling system. These upgrades, except for the upgrades to the Taft Avenue pocket track and the North Avenue turn back siding, would only be realized as part of the line's rehabilitation from 2019 to 2021.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Plans were also laid to increase the number of cars in each train set, from the current 3-car configuration to 4-car configuration, which also increases the number of passengers being accommodated for each trip, from 1,182 passengers to 1,576 passengers for each train set. The first mention of this plan was in 2013, during the procurement of the new trains. However, in January 2016, a railway expert warned that the power supply at that time was not capable of handling four-car train operations. Despite this, four-car operations were first tested in a Dalian train in May 2016. After the rehabilitation of the line which included the upgrading of the power supply, the plan to utilize four-car trains in regular operations were restarted when a 3000 class train underwent a dynamic test run on March 9, 2022. Regular four-car operations started on March 28, 2022, with two four-car trains deployed for daily operations. It was subsequently increased to three four-car trains by April 18. The DOTr plans to convert all trains from three cars to four cars by 2023.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: As early as 2011, there were proposals to rehabilitate the line. An unsolicited proposal were made by Metro Pacific Investments in 2011 at a cost of . Another proposal was presented in 2014 at a cost of . In 2017, in the wake of various daily service interruptions in the line, San Miguel Corporation expressed its interest to rehabilitate the line. That same year, Metro Pacific submitted another proposal to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the line. These proposals however would be rejected by the government.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Following the termination of the maintenance contract with Busan Universal Rail, Inc., the DOTr announced on November 29, 2017, that it will rehire Sumitomo Corporation as the maintenance provider of the line. The three-year contract would cover the rehabilitation and maintenance of the line. The project, partly funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, was approved by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) board of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on August 17, 2018. It intended to rehabilitate and upgrade the existing systems and trains, for the line to return to its original high-grade design. The project was part of the Build! Build! Build! infrastructure program.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: A loan agreement was signed by the Philippine and Japanese government officials on November 8, 2018. On December 28, the DOTr and Sumitomo signed the rehabilitation and maintenance contract. The project was initially slated to start by January 2019. However, an implementation of a re-enacted government budget for 2019 and finalization of documents caused repeated delays on when the project could start, which would only start on May 1, 2019.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Under the 43-month contract, which is undertaken by Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering (part of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group), and TES Philippines, rehabilitation works will be done within 26 months. It covers the overhaul of all MRTC Class 3000 vehicles, repairs on the escalators and elevators, rail replacement, upgrades on the signalling and communication systems, power supply, overhead systems, maintenance and station equipment. After the rehabilitation, a 17-month maintenance contract will be undertaken by the Japanese firms.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: During rehabilitation, the joint venture of Oriental Consultants Global and Tonichi Engineering Consultants was appointed as the consultant in 2019 for technical supervision of the project.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The rehabilitation was originally scheduled to be completed by July 2021. However, delays brought by the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its completion to December 2021. But by the end of the year, only 38 of the 72 train cars has been refurbished. Despite this, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade announced on February 28, 2022, that the rehabilitation has been finished in December 2021. On March 22, 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte and Secretary Tugade inaugurated the newly rehabilitated MRT Line 3 at a completion ceremony held at Shaw Boulevard station.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: As part of the completion of the line's rehabilitation, free rides were offered to commuters from March 28 to June 30, 2022. This was to ease the financial burden of the passengers amid the inflation of food and fuel prices brought by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The free rides were originally expected to end on April 30, but was extended twice.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The contract was originally slated to end by December 2022, or 43 months after the start of the rehabilitation. It was however moved to May 2023, four years after the rehabilitation project began, due to the completion of the rehabilitation in December 2021.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: With the exception of Buendia and Ayala stations, and the platform level of Taft Avenue and Boni stations, all stations are situated above ground, taking advantage of EDSA's topology.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The stations have a standard layout, with a concourse level and a platform level. The concourse is usually above the platform, with stairs, escalators and elevators leading down to the platform level. Station concourses contain ticket booths, which is separated from the platform level by fare gates. Some stations, such as Araneta Center-Cubao, are connected at concourse level to nearby buildings, such as shopping malls, for easier accessibility. Most stations are also barrier-free inside and outside the station, and trains have spaces for passengers using wheelchairs.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Stations either have island platforms, such as Taft Avenue, Buendia, Boni Avenue, and Shaw Boulevard stations, and side platforms, such as from Magallanes station to Ayala stations, Guadalupe, and from Ortigas to North Avenue stations. Due to the very high patronage of the line, before the pandemic, part of the platform corresponding to the first car of the train is cordoned off for the use of senior citizens, pregnant women, children who are below and age seven, and disabled passengers. Since 2021, the first two doors of the first car of the train has been allotted as a priority section for the aforementioned passengers.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The station platforms have a standard length of , designed to accommodate trains with four cars. The stations are also designed to occupy the entire span of EDSA, allowing passengers to safely cross between one end of the road and the other.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line has a total of 46 escalators and 34 elevators across all 13 stations. Prior to the rehabilitation, only few escalators and elevators were operational. The escalators and elevators were rehabilitated as part of the rehabilitation of the line. The project started in June 2019 and was completed on August 20, 2020.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In February 2012, the line allowed folding bicycles to be brought into trains provided that the wheels do not exceed more than in diameter.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Platform screen doors were also planned for each station, with the plans for the platform doors were laid out as early as 2013, however, these plans were delayed until it was reconsidered in 2017.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Inside the concourse of all stations are stalls or shops where people can buy food or drinks. Stalls vary by station, and some have fast food stalls. The number of stalls also varies by station, and stations tend to have a wide variety, especially in stations such as Ayala and Shaw Boulevard.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Stations such as Taft Avenue and North Avenue are connected to or are near shopping malls and/or other large shopping areas, where commuters are offered more shopping varieties.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Since November 19, 2001, in cooperation with the "Philippine Daily Inquirer", passengers have been offered copies of the "Inquirer Libre", a free, tabloid-size, Tagalog version of the "Inquirer", which is available at all stations. In 2014, "Pilipino Mirror" also started distributing free tabloid newspapers.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line's safety was affirmed in a 2004 World Bank paper prepared by Halcrow, describing the overall state of metro rail transit operations in Manila as being "good". However, since the DOTr took over maintenance of the train system in 2012, the safety and reliability of the system has been questioned, with experts calling it "an accident waiting to happen." While several incidents and accidents were reported between 2012 and 2014, they did not deter commuters from using the system. The Philippine government, meanwhile, continues to assert that the system is safe overall despite those incidents and accidents.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: With a daily ridership of around 560,000 passengers in 2014, the line operated significantly above its designed capacity of between 360,000 and 380,000 passengers per day (Even before the COVID-19 pandemic begin in early 2020). The line operated beyond its designated capacity from 2004 to 2019. Government officials have admitted that capacity and system upgrades are overdue, although the DOTr has never acted on the numerous capacity expansion proposals of the private owners. In the absence of major investment in improving system safety and reliability, DOTr project management office of the line has resorted to experimenting with and implementing other solutions to reduce strain on the system, including crowd management on station platforms and the proposed implementation of peak-hour express train service. However, some of these solutions, such as platform crowd management, are unpopular with passengers.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: For safety and security reasons, persons who are visibly intoxicated, insane and/or under the influence of controlled substances, persons carrying flammable materials and/or explosives, and persons carrying bulky objects or items over tall and/or wide are prohibited from entering the line. Products in tin cans are also prohibited on board, citing the possibility of home-made bombs being concealed inside the cans.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In late 2000 and early 2001, in response to the Rizal Day bombings and the September 11 attacks, security was increased. Following a vandalism incident in May 2021, the number of security personnel deployed across all stations was increased from 580 to 750 and a patrol car was deployed for added security. Units of the Philippine National Police and security police provided by private companies can be found in all stations. All stations have a head guard. Some stations may also have a deployed K9 bomb-sniffing dog. The line also employs the use of closed-circuit television inside all stations to monitor suspicious activities.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early March 2020, the line operated at a limited capacity when public transport operations resumed on June 1, 2020, after a three-month lockdown that halted the operations of public transport. The use of face masks (and later, face shields) became the mandatory since the resumption of operations in June 2020. In July 2020, the trains are regularly disinfected when the train arrives at a terminus. It takes five minutes for a train to be disinfected with the outbreak.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In addition, talking with other passengers and answering the phone calls has been prohibited in the line during the pandemic. Although the policy has been implemented in all other railway lines and forms of public transport in Metro Manila.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: On July 12, 2021, the railway operator allowed the passengers bringing pets inside the line with a face masks, but pets must be placed inside a carrier bag before boarding a train despite COVID-19 Delta variant spreading in the country. The use of face shields later became no longer mandatory in public transport in November 2021, except when an area is under the two highest levels of the alert level system. Social distancing measures were also implemented.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Since March 1, 2022 as the country ahead of endemic phase, all railway lines, including the MRT Line 3 have operated at full capacity due to the deescalation of Metro Manila to the lowest of the five levels of the alert level system.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The original designed ridership of the line is 350,000, yet as the years passed, the number doubled from 450,000 daily passengers in 2006–2007 to 490,000 passengers in 2008 and up to 500,000 passengers from 2010 to 2012, with record numbers reaching as high as 620,000 from 2012 to 2013, before declining to 560,000 in 2014. The high ridership of the line is due to the time consumed when commuting via EDSA, as well as the speed of the trains reaching up to , and connectivity to Metro Manila's major transport hubs, railway lines, and central business districts, which results to a reduced commuting travel time and an increase in ridership. The daily ridership of the line can reach as much as 300,000 to 500,000 passengers from 2012 to 2016, despite poor maintenance and long lines, causing the government to launch bus services, known as MRT Buses, around its stations, to serve as alternatives for 900,000 to 1 million passengers. In addition to the rising daily ridership that continues to exceed the line's designed capacity, and as the government continues to implement the metro line's capacity expansion project, it aims to reach a ridership of 800,000 daily passengers as all of the new trains from China will be added to its current fleet.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Ridership declined in 2015, with a daily average of 327,314 passengers, which is lower than the 2014 record of 464,871 daily passengers on average. The ridership increased slightly in 2016, with a daily average of 370,036 passengers, and the highest recorded daily ridership of 517,929 in December of that year. However, ridership started to decline by 2017 due to poor maintenance and daily breakdowns. Ridership continued to decline through 2018 and 2019, until a significant drop in ridership was recorded in 2020 due to capacity limitations brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, serving 70,000 to 150,000 passengers daily. It previously served almost 40,000 passengers in June 2020, and 150,000 passengers in January 2021. Until February 2022, the line operated at a limited capacity before capacity limitations were removed by March 1, 2022.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Ridership slightly increased in 2021, servicing 136,935 daily passengers on average and 45,675,884 passengers throughout the same year, due to the increased capacity in November 2021. Currently, the line serves more than 370,000 passengers daily, while running at a maximum speed of up to and operating in a headway of 3.5 to 4 minutes, from the previous in a headway of 8 to 10 minutes.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: After the completion of the rehabilitation project, the line offered free rides to commuters in a span of three months. This, in turn, increased the ridership of the line. By the end of the free rides, a total of 28,624,982 passengers rode the line. It also recorded a daily average of 318,055 passengers in the same period.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line, like all other lines in Metro Manila, uses a distance-based fare structure, with fares ranging from 13 to 28 pesos (29 to 63 U.S. cents), depending on the destination. Commuters who ride the line are charged ₱13 for the first two stations, ₱16 for 3–4 stations, ₱20 for 5–7 stations, ₱24 for 8–10 stations and ₱28 for 11 stations or the entire line. Children below (the height of a fare gate) may ride for free.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Fares are free of charge every March 8 (International Women's Day; free rides exclusive for women), June 12 (Independence Day), and December 30 (Rizal Day) on limited time slots.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line, along with the LRT Line 2 and Philippine National Railways lines also offered free rides to students starting July 1, 2019, but students must register to avail a student pass. However, the free rides for students stopped in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic as distance learning was implemented as a mode of learning during the pandemic. With the shift towards the return of physical face-to-face classes, a plan to return the free rides to students by August 2022 was announced; however, free rides for students will only be limited to the LRT Line 2 due to more losses that the government will incur as a consequence of the free rides. Instead, the line will offer a 20% fare discount for students that wish to avail.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Two types of tickets exist: a single-journey (one-way) ticket whose cost is dependent on the destination, and a stored-value (multiple-use) ticket for 100 pesos. The 200-peso & 500-peso stored-value tickets were issued in the past, but have since been phased out. The single-journey ticket is valid only on the date of purchase. Meanwhile, the stored-value ticket is valid for three months from date of first use.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The tickets come in several incarnations: these include tickets bearing the portraits of former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which have since been phased out, and one bearing the logos of the DOTC and the MRTC. Ticket shortages are common: in 2005, the MRTC was forced to recycle tickets bearing Estrada's portrait to address critical ticket shortages, even resorting to borrowing stored-value tickets from the LRTA and even cutting unusable tickets in half for use as manual passes. Shortages were also reported in 2012, and the DOTC was working on procuring additional tickets in 2014. Because of the ticket shortages, it had become common practice for regular passengers to purchase several stored-value tickets at a time, though ticket shortages still persist.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Although it has partnered with private telecommunications companies in experimenting with RFID technology as an alternative ticketing system in the past, these were phased out in 2009.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Currently, inter-operable beep cards with similar-to-the-previous single-journey and stored-value ticket types are now issued, along with the deployment of brand-new ticketing machines that replaced the barely-used ticketing machines that has been in place since the line's inauguration. The beep, tap-and-go tickets, loadable up to ₱10,000, became available to use in all stations of the line on October 3, 2015.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: A shortage of the stored value cards was reported in 2022 due to the ongoing global chip shortage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Adjusting passenger fares was ordered by President Joseph Estrada as a means to boost flagging ridership figures, and the issue of fares both historically and in the present day continues to be a contentious political issue involving officials at even the highest levels of government.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Current fare levels were set on January 4, 2015, as a consequence of DOTr (formerly DOTC) having to increase fares for LRT Line 1 as per their concession agreement with MPIC-Ayala, with fare hikes delayed for several years despite inflation and rising operating costs. Prior to the current fares levels, fares were set on July 15, 2000, under the orders of then President Estrada; this was intended to have the line become competitive against other modes of transport, but had the effect of causing revenue shortfalls which the government shouldered. While originally set to last only until January 2001, the new fare structure persisted due to strong public opposition against increasing fares, especially as ridership increased significantly after lower fares were implemented. In 2022, when the line waived its fares, ridership also increased. These lower fares—which are only slightly more expensive than jeepney fares—ended up being financed through large government subsidies amounting to around ₱45 per passenger, and which for both the MRT "and" LRT reached ₱75 billion for the 10-year period between 2004 and 2014. Without subsidies, the cost of a single trip is estimated at ₱60, and a ₱10 increase in fares would yield additional monthly revenues of ₱2–3 billion a month.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Passenger fare subsidies are unpopular outside Metro Manila, with subsidy opponents claiming that their taxes are being used to subsidize Metro Manila commuters without any benefit to the countryside, and that the fare subsidies should be used for infrastructure improvements in the rest of the country. In his 2013 State of the Nation Address, President Benigno Aquino III claimed that it would be unfair for non-Metro Manila residents to use their taxes to subsidize the LRT and MRT. However, supporters of the subsidies claimed that the rest of the country benefits economically from efficient transportation in Metro Manila.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line runs light rail vehicles (LRV) in a regular three-car configuration. Four-car trains began operating by March 2022, although most trains remain running in three cars. The DOTr plans to convert all three-car trains to four-car trains by 2023. Two train types run in the line, the latest being those purchased from CRRC Dalian, under the Aquino administration.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line has a total of 121 light rail vehicles. 73 of which were made in the Czech Republic by ČKD (now part of Siemens AG) and were purchased with export financing from the Czech government. One ČKD train car was damaged following a derailment of a train in 2014. Another 48 were made by CRRC Dalian in China that were purchased at a cost of . Trains have a capacity of 1,182 passengers, expandable to 1,576, which is a little bigger than the normal capacity of LRT Line 1 first generation rolling stock that has a capacity with the same configuration of 1,122 passengers, although trains came with air conditioning. Despite this, it is designed to carry in excess of 23,000 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD), and is expandable to accommodate 48,000 passengers per hour per direction.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The plans for new rolling stock has been an issue for the MRT during the Aquino administration under DOTC's leadership of then Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, with plans to acquire 52 second-hand LRVs offered from Madrid Metro in Spain with a budget of ₱8.43 billion, along with a proposal from Inekon Trams in 2013. However, undisclosed issues and train incompatibility issues regarding the project, the project was downgraded to 48 LRVs, with the contract having CRRC Dalian supply 48 new LRVs.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The deployment of the Dalian trainsets was delayed due to several factors, including weight limits on existing tracks and inconsistencies in production, which has since been corrected. On October 27, 2018, DOTr started the gradual deployment of the 2nd-generation trains. Currently, none of the Dalian trains are in operation.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The trains are designed to run at a maximum speed of , but currently run at a maximum safe speed of , though some areas are limited to a speed of like turnouts. Until 2014, all trains ran at the maximum speed until speed restrictions were implemented following a derailment incident of a train coach at Taft Avenue station on August 13 of that year, in which the maximum speed was restricted to . By 2017, it was subsequently downgraded to . After the completion of a rail replacement program, the operating speed was gradually increased from , to on October 1, 2020, to on November 3, and to on December 7.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Due to poor maintenance by the previous maintenance contractors, the line previously operated with 7–10 minute headways under the DOTr orders, and the line's passenger volume operated at 15,000–18,000 passengers per hour per direction before the COVID-19 pandemic. With the enhancements and rehabilitation, the delays were gradually shortened, and the passenger volume is expected to increase to 19,000–25,000 passengers per hour per direction with the introduction of four-car trains and the lifting of capacity restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In early 2018, the lack of spare parts for the trains decreased the number of usable trains to just 3 to 7 operational trains running during peak hours. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) attributed this to the previous maintenance provider, Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI), for failing to provide enough spare parts for the trains. However, by April 2018, after maintenance works were done, 14–16 trains are now operational in peak and off-peak hours.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Due to aging air conditioning units that have been in place since the line's inauguration and complaints of uncomfortable indoor temperatures from riders, the air-conditioning units for the first-generation trainsets were first replaced in 2008 during the line's first general overhaul in 2008 to 2009. In 2017, the second replacement of the air conditioning units commenced, with new units ordered from Thermo King. The replacement of these units were finished on June 18, 2021, as part of the line's rehabilitation project.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The Passenger Assist Railway Display System (PARDS), a passenger information system powered by LCD screens installed near the ceiling of the train that shows news, advertisements, current train location, arrivals and station layouts, are already installed inside the first-generation trains. PARDS is also installed on trains on LRT lines 1 and 2.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line maintains an underground depot in Quezon City near North Avenue station. Above the depot is TriNoma, a shopping mall owned by the Ayala Corporation. The depot occupies of space and serves as the center of operations and maintenance. It is connected to the mainline through a spur line. The depot is capable of storing 81 light rail vehicles, with the option to expand to include 40 more vehicles as demand arises. They are parked on nine sets of tracks, which converge onto the spur route and later on to the main network. However, a lot of rail tracks for storage inside the depot owned by MRTC were taken by DOTC (now DOTr) to repair broken rails, as DOTC's previous maintenance provider did not purchase spare rails. These rails have since been replaced during the rehabilitation done along the entire line by Sumitomo.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The line uses the CITYFLO 250 fixed block signalling solution supplied by Alstom (formerly Bombardier Transportation), designed for light rapid transit operations with on-board automatic train protection (ATP) system on trains. Aside from the ATP system, the signalling system consists of train detection through track circuits, EBI Screen 900 centralized traffic control, and computer-based interlocking.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Adtranz, later Bombardier Transportation, designed and supplied the original signalling system of the line, and maintained it from 2000 to 2012. The firm owns the proprietary rights to supply new components for the system. Plans were laid to upgrade the signalling system were laid in 2015. That same year, Bombardier, through its Thai subsidiary Bombardier Transportation Signal (Thailand), was awarded the contract to upgrade the system's local control system. The upgrade replaced the MAN 900 system with the EBI Screen 900 system with modern computers and fiber optic technology.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The previous maintenance providers failed to properly maintain the signalling system and used non-OEM parts to save costs. This in turn, caused many problems within the system which became among the top three reasons of service interruptions on the line. Plans to upgrade the signalling system were restarted in 2018, when the Department of Transportation (DOTr) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bombardier Transportation on February 9, 2018, for the procurement of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the signalling equipment and spare parts. Included in the MoU was a two-year maintenance contract that was later cancelled in May 2019 due to the rehabilitation program which included the maintenance of the signalling system by Sumitomo.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The upgrade from 2019 to 2021 included the replacement of copper cables with fiber optic cables, installation of 71 new signal lights, new interlocking equipment, new point machines, new track circuits (including tuning units which form part of the track circuits), and other wayside equipment. Works continued during the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation by Alstom in January 2021. The upgraded signalling system was commissioned on October 24, 2021.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The tracks consist of standard gauge tracks, with a track center distance of . The rails consist of rails designed to the UIC 54 rail profile, which are welded together to form a long-welded rail. Some rails located in the turnouts have fishplates bolted at the ends of the rail. These are laid on sections of the line with ballasted and concrete plinth sections. Sections with track ballast are located on at-grade sections and the underground portion of the line (except Buendia station and the turnouts south of the station), while plinth sections are located at elevated sections of the line. The tracks on ballasted sections are supported by concrete sleepers. The rehabilitation of the line led to the introduction of fiber-reinforced foam urethane (FFU) railway sleepers. FFU sleepers are found at the line's depot and the turnouts near Taft Avenue station.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Plans to replace the rail tracks were laid in 2015. Replacement works in certain sections of the line were conducted in February and March of that year. In January 2015, the joint venture of Jorgman, Daewoo, and MBTech Group was awarded the contract for the major replacement works. The joint venture supplied 7,296 pieces of rails.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: However, the rails would later be worn out. A rail replacement program started on November 4, 2019, as part of a rehabilitation program. 4,053 pieces of rails assembled by the Nippon Steel Corporation in Fukuoka, Japan were used for the replacement program. Rail replacement works were suspended during the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, but works resumed in April 2020 and the replacement was fast-tracked. The replacement program was slated to be completed by February 2021, but was completed five months early, in September 2020. The turnouts near the Taft Avenue station were repaired in October and November 2020. The rail replacement was intended to increase the operating speed from to and was achieved on December 7, 2020.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In November 2022, the Department of Transportation said that it is considering to privatize the operations and maintenance of the line to enhance efficiency, reduce operating costs, and keep fares affordable. The rail lines assets will remain owned by the government, similar to the LRT Line 1. Such a plan was announced as early as 2017.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In a feasibility study in 2009 and in 2015, launched by Japan International Cooperation Agency, along with the Department of Transportation, the Transport and Traffic Planners (TTPI) Inc. and other Japanese and local railway officials, launched a plan to extend the present MRT line's southern end, by constructing a at-grade and underground segment, from Taft Avenue station to the SM Mall of Asia complex. Plans were also laid out to add another station, by traversing through Macapagal Boulevard and linking the line to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange, therefore adding another to the main line. The study also included a planned extension to the northern and western cities of Navotas, Southern Caloocan, and Malabon, which is also included to the planned merging project with the LRT Line 1, and connecting it to the North–South Commuter Railway Caloocan station.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Due to the numerous problems surrounding the project, such as right-of-way and cost issues, the government decided to presumably scrap the extension plans, and look for alternatives instead, such as the planned Integrated Pasay Monorail project by the Pasay City LGU and SM Investments, starting from the station to SM Mall of Asia.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Although Phase 1 of the line (Taft Avenue to North Avenue) has already been built, the route envisioned by the DOTC and the government, in general, was for it to traverse the entire length of EDSA (from Monumento to Taft Avenue), eventually meeting with the LRT 1 at in Caloocan (Phase 2) to create a seamless rail loop around Metro Manila. The expansion has been shelved by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in favor of the LRT Line 1's extension from to a new common station that it will share with at North Avenue, thus closing the loop. However, this move of President Arroyo to take away Phase 2 had proven to be ill-advised as the ridership is very low at only about 30,000 passengers a day. The southern terminus of the MRT Line 7 (originally Line 4 along Quezon Avenue., but had since changed route several times), which will link Quezon City, Caloocan (north), and San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan will be sharing the same station.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: The National Economic and Development Authority as well as then President Arroyo herself have said that the link at North Avenue is a national priority, since it would not only provide seamless service between the LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3, but would also help decongest Metro Manila. It is estimated that by 2010, when the extension is completed, some 684,000 commuters would use the line every day from the present 400,000, and traffic congestion on EDSA would be cut by as much as 50%.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: Proposals to fully unite LRT-1 and MRT-3 operations and systems have been pitched but has not been pursued so far. Feasibility tests for this proposition included LRT-1 trains visiting MRT 3 depot facilities and running them on the entire line. Even if the physical infrastructure connecting the two rail systems are in place and successfully tested, commuters have to go down at the Roosevelt station of LRT Line 1 and walk over or take a tricycle or jeepney for the distance to the Trinoma terminal of MRT Line 3. In 2011, a year after the completion of the loop, the then-Department of Transportation and Communications, under Secretary Jose de Jesus, launched an auction for a temporary five-year operations and maintenance contract for the MRT-3 and LRT-1. The bidding was set by July 2011. Over 21 companies from around the world expressed interest to bid which included Metro Pacific Investments, Sumitomo Corporation, Siemens, DMCI Holdings, San Miguel Corporation, and others. After de Jesus resigned from the DOTC, his successor, Mar Roxas, halted the auction process and was later shelved.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: A new study for the Metro Manila Rail Network has been unveiled by DOTC Undersecretary for Public Information Dante Velasco that LRT 1, LRT 2, and MRT 3 will be placed under the management of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA). This is due to maintenance cost issues for LRT 1's maintenance cost, which is approximately ₱35 million, along with LRT Line 2's ₱25 million and MRT Line 3's ₱54 million maintenance costs. Another reason for this study is for the unification of the lines. According to DOTC Undersecretary for Rails Glicerio Sicat, the transfer was set by the government in June 2011. However, it is unlikely that the private owners, MRTC, will approve this plan.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: On January 13, 2011, Light Rail Transit Authority Chief Rafael S. Rodriguez took over as officer-in-charge of the line in preparation for the integration of operations of the three lines, but with the entry of a new leadership into the DOTC that year and in 2012, the transfer was deemed not likely to happen; however, in April 2012, a LRT 1 trainset made the first trial journey to the MRT 3 depot.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: On May 26, 2014, the line's general manager Al Vitangcol was sacked by Transportation and Communication Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, and was replaced by LRTA Administrator Honorito Chaneco as officer-in-charge. The move came after Vitangcol was accused by the ambassador of the Czech Republic of extortion and for awarding the maintenance contract in October 2012 to PH Trams, a company established by Vitangcol's uncle-in-law. Vitangcol was also involved in an attempt to extort $30 million from Inekon Group in exchange of 48 train vehicles in July 2012.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: On November 21, 2013, the NEDA board, chaired by President Benigno Aquino III, approved the construction of a common station within North Avenue between SM City North EDSA and TriNoma Mall. It is estimated to cost 1.4 billion pesos. It will feature head-to-head platforms for LRT 1 and MRT 3 trains with a elevated walkalator to MRT 7. SM Investments Corporation posted 200 million pesos for the naming rights of the common station. This is inconsistent with the original plan of having seamless connectivity to Monumento and is also an unusual arrangement of having two train stations beside each other. However, the project was shelved indefinitely due to disputes over cost, engineering issues and naming rights. The Supreme Court halted the construction of the project in August 2014 after SM Prime Holdings contested the new location near Trinoma. An agreement was later reached under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte on September 28, 2016, and the common station finally begun construction on September 29, 2017. Partial operations of the station will begin in 2023.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: During the testing period of the system, the MRT–3 has been prone to numerous disruptions and breakdowns due to technical problems in the overall systems and design since its opening in 1999, due to many factors, such as the humid conditions in the country, lack of accessibility to the stations, and incompatible problems in the rolling stock, causing major adjustments to the system.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: However, problems start to arise in 2012, due to poor maintenance causing train glitches, lack of spare parts, and negligence, the system has faced numerous interruptions and accidents. This in turn has caused lower ridership, frequent unloading of passengers and passenger inconvenience.


title: MRT Line 3 (Metro Manila)

text: In 2021, the train line had its first vandalism incident and first stoning incident. There were reported incidents of railway safety violations in 2018 and 2021.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: James Arthur Haslam III (born March 9, 1954) is an American businessman and sports executive. He is the chairman of the board of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. He and his wife Dee own the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS). His father Jim Haslam founded the Pilot Corporation in 1958 as the Pilot Oil Corporation.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Haslam, who lives in his native Knoxville, Tennessee, is the elder brother of Bill Haslam, former Governor of Tennessee. He is married to Susan "Dee" Bagwell Haslam, CEO of RIVR Media, part of the family ownership group of Pilot and co-owner of the Browns and Crew. They have three adult children, James Bagwell Haslam (adopted 2016), Whitney Haslam Johnson, and Cynthia Haslam Arnholt and five grandchildren.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: While attending the University of Tennessee, Haslam was a roommate of Bob Corker, who went on to become a United States Senator from Tennessee. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Haslam began his career at Pilot Corporation in 1976. In 1980, Haslam was named vice president of sales, development and operations. At that time, Pilot operated 100 convenience stores with annual fuel sales of about 125 million gallons. Pilot opened its first travel center in 1981, and by 1996 – the same year Haslam was named president and chief executive officer – the company operated 96 travel centers and 50 convenience stores and its total gallon sales had reached 1.2 billion. Pilot Corporation attained yet another milestone in 2001 when it joined with Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC to form Pilot Travel Centers LLC.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In 2008, Pilot Corporation announced that CVC Capital Partners had acquired 49.8% interest in Pilot Travel Centers LLC, facilitating the sale by Marathon Petroleum Company (formerly Marathon Ashland Petroleum) of its interest in Pilot Travel Centers. Pilot Corporation retained 50% ownership of Pilot Travel Centers LLC.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In 2015, the Haslam family acquired all of CVC Capital Partners’ shares in the company. Pilot’s convenience store operations continue to be fully owned by Pilot Corporation.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In 2010, Pilot Travel Centers LLC joined with Flying J Inc. In 2012, Pilot Flying J acquired Western Petroleum and the majority ownership of Maxum Petroleum and in 2012 formed Maxum Enterprises LLC, d/b/a Pilot Logistics Services. In 2014, Pilot Logistics Services merged with Thomas Petroleum to form Pilot Thomas Logistics. Pilot Flying J subsidiary Pilot Thomas Logistics is one of the fastest growing energy logistics companies in North America.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Pilot Flying J is one of the largest top 10 privately held companies in the United States and employs more than 24,000 employees. The Pilot Flying J network provides customers with access to more than 70,000 parking spaces for trucks, 4,800 showers and 4,300 diesel lanes featuring DEF at the pump.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In April 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant and affidavit detailing a five-year fraud scheme by the Pilot Flying J chain. The company paid restitution to customers and agreed to pay a $92 million penalty pursuant to a Criminal Enforcement Agreement.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Haslam's civic involvement includes service on the board of directors of Anderson Media Corporation. He also has served on the boards of the United Way of Greater Knoxville, Lakeshore Park in Knoxville and the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO). In addition, Haslam served as honorary chair of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland campaign committee and as campaign chair for Knox Area Rescue Ministries and United Way of Greater Knoxville.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In 2006, he served as Tennessee statewide campaign chair for the United States Senator Bob Corker and in 2012, he served as Statewide Finance Chairman for Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, his brother. Haslam was inducted into the Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2010, he was named a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award for the Southeast region. In 2013, the University of Tennessee recognized Haslam with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is the co-founder of the Haslam Scholars Program for premier honor students at the University of Tennessee.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Haslam bought a minority interest in the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. In 2012, he reached an agreement with Browns owner Randy Lerner to purchase the franchise for $1 billion. The Browns were valued at $977 million in 2011 by "Forbes" magazine, 20th in the NFL. NFL rules prohibit ownership in multiple teams and so Haslam sold his interest in the Steelers. The Haslams' purchase of the Browns was unanimously approved by the 32 teams in the NFL on October 12; the sale itself closed thirteen days later.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: Since officially taking over the Browns seven games into the 2012 season, and through the end of the 2020 regular season, Haslam has a 44-94-1 record as team owner (including going 0-16 in 2017), but had his first winning season in 2020 when the Browns went 11-5, and won his first postseason game as Browns owner when they defeated the Steelers 48-37 in the Wild Card round of the 2020–21 NFL playoffs.


title: Jimmy Haslam

text: In late 2018, reports emerged that Haslam had purchased Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew from Anthony Precourt, who wanted to move the club to Austin, Texas. Haslam, along with his wife Dee and former team physician Pete Edwards, took over as owners on January 1, 2019, as a deal to purchase the club from Precourt was finalized.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, asphalt, metals, pipes, cables or masonry. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band (UHF/VHF frequencies) of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. GPR can have applications in a variety of media, including rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures. In the right conditions, practitioners can use GPR to detect subsurface objects, changes in material properties, and voids and cracks.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR uses high-frequency (usually polarized) radio waves, usually in the range 10 MHz to 2.6 GHz. A GPR transmitter and antenna emits electromagnetic energy into the ground. When the energy encounters a buried object or a boundary between materials having different permittivities, it may be reflected or refracted or scattered back to the surface. A receiving antenna can then record the variations in the return signal. The principles involved are similar to seismology, except GPR methods implement electromagnetic energy rather than acoustic energy, and energy may be reflected at boundaries where subsurface electrical properties change rather than subsurface mechanical properties as is the case with seismic energy.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The electrical conductivity of the ground, the transmitted center frequency, and the radiated power all may limit the effective depth range of GPR investigation. Increases in electrical conductivity attenuate the introduced electromagnetic wave, and thus the penetration depth decreases. Because of frequency-dependent attenuation mechanisms, higher frequencies do not penetrate as far as lower frequencies. However, higher frequencies may provide improved resolution. Thus operating frequency is always a trade-off between resolution and penetration. Optimal depth of subsurface penetration is achieved in ice where the depth of penetration can achieve several thousand metres (to bedrock in Greenland) at low GPR frequencies. Dry sandy soils or massive dry materials such as granite, limestone, and concrete tend to be resistive rather than conductive, and the depth of penetration could be up to . However, in moist or clay-laden soils and materials with high electrical conductivity, penetration may be as little as a few centimetres.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Ground-penetrating radar antennas are generally in contact with the ground for the strongest signal strength; however, GPR air-launched antennas can be used above the ground.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Cross borehole GPR has developed within the field of hydrogeophysics to be a valuable means of assessing the presence and amount of soil water.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The first patent for a system designed to use continuous-wave radar to locate buried objects was submitted by Gotthelf Leimbach and Heinrich Löwy in 1910, six years after the first patent for radar itself (patent DE 237 944). A patent for a system using radar pulses rather than a continuous wave was filed in 1926 by Dr. Hülsenbeck (DE 489 434), leading to improved depth resolution. A glacier's depth was measured using ground penetrating radar in 1929 by W. Stern.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Further developments in the field remained sparse until the 1970s, when military applications began driving research. Commercial applications followed and the first affordable consumer equipment was sold in 1975.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission carried a ground penetrating radar called ALSE (Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment) in orbit around the Moon. It was able to record depth information up to 1.3 km and recorded the results on film due to the lack of suitable computer storage at the time.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR has many applications in a number of fields. In the Earth sciences it is used to study bedrock, soils, groundwater, and ice. It is of some utility in prospecting for gold nuggets and for diamonds in alluvial gravel beds, by finding natural traps in buried stream beds that have the potential for accumulating heavier particles. The Chinese lunar rover Yutu has a GPR on its underside to investigate the soil and crust of the Moon.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Engineering applications include nondestructive testing (NDT) of structures and pavements, locating buried structures and utility lines, and studying soils and bedrock. In environmental remediation, GPR is used to define landfills, contaminant plumes, and other remediation sites, while in archaeology it is used for mapping archaeological features and cemeteries. GPR is used in law enforcement for locating clandestine graves and buried evidence. Military uses include detection of mines, unexploded ordnance, and tunnels.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Borehole radars utilizing GPR are used to map the structures from a borehole in underground mining applications. Modern directional borehole radar systems are able to produce three-dimensional images from measurements in a single borehole.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: One of the other main applications for ground-penetrating radars is for locating underground utilities. Standard electromagnetic induction utility locating tools require utilities to be conductive. These tools are ineffective for locating plastic conduits or concrete storm and sanitary sewers. Since GPR detects variations in dielectric properties in the subsurface, it can be highly effective for locating non-conductive utilities.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR was often used on the Channel 4 television programme "Time Team" which used the technology to determine a suitable area for examination by means of excavations. GPR was also used to recover £150,000 in cash ransom that Michael Sams had buried in a field, following his 1992 kidnapping of an estate agent.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Military applications of ground-penetrating radar include detection of unexploded ordnance and detecting tunnels. In military applications and other common GPR applications, practitioners often use GPR in conjunction with other available geophysical techniques such as electrical resistivity and electromagnetic induction methods.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: In May 2020, the U.S. military ordered ground-penetrating radar system from Chemring Sensors and Electronics Systems (CSES), to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs) buried in roadways, in $200.2 million deal.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: A recent novel approach to vehicle localization using prior map based images from ground penetrating radar has been demonstrated. Termed "Localizing Ground Penetrating Radar" (LGPR), centimeter level accuracies at speeds up to 100 km/hr (60 mph) have been demonstrated. Closed-loop operation was first demonstrated in 2012 for autonomous vehicle steering and fielded for military operation in 2013. Highway speed centimeter-level localization during a night-time snow-storm was demonstrated in 2016. This technology was exclusively licensed and commercialized for vehicle safety in ADAS and Autonomous Vehicle positioning and lane-keeping systems by GPR Inc. and marketed as Ground Positioning Radar(tm).


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Ground penetrating radar survey is one method used in archaeological geophysics. GPR can be used to detect and map subsurface archaeological artifacts, features, and patterning.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The concept of radar is familiar to most people. With ground penetrating radar, the radar signal – an electromagnetic pulse – is directed into the ground. Subsurface objects and stratigraphy (layering) will cause reflections that are picked up by a receiver. The travel time of the reflected signal indicates the depth. Data may be plotted as profiles, as planview maps isolating specific depths, or as three-dimensional models.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR can be a powerful tool in favorable conditions (uniform sandy soils are ideal). Like other geophysical methods used in archaeology (and unlike excavation) it can locate artifacts and map features without any risk of damaging them. Among methods used in archaeological geophysics, it is unique both in its ability to detect some small objects at relatively great depths, and in its ability to distinguish the depth of anomaly sources.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The principal disadvantage of GPR is that it is severely limited by less-than-ideal environmental conditions. Fine-grained sediments (clays and silts) are often problematic because their high electrical conductivity causes loss of signal strength; rocky or heterogeneous sediments scatter the GPR signal, weakening the useful signal while increasing extraneous noise.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: In the field of cultural heritage GPR with high frequency antenna is also used for investigating historical masonry structures, detecting cracks and decay patterns of columns and detachment of frescoes.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR is used by criminologists, historians, and archaeologists to search burial sites. In his publication, "Interpreting Ground-penetrating Radar for Archaeology", Lawrence Conyers, who is "one of the first archaeological specialists in GPR" described the process. Conyers published research using GPR in El Salvador in 1996, in the Four Corners region Chaco period in southern Arizona in 1997, and in a medieval site in Ireland in 2018. Informed by Conyer's research, the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology at the University of Alberta, in collaboration with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, have been using GPR in their survey of Indian Residential Schools in Canada. By June 2021, the Institute had used GPR to locate suspected unmarked graves in areas near historic cemeteries and Indian Residential Schools. On May 27, 2021, it was reported that the remains of 215 children were found using GPR at a burial site at the Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation land in British Columbia. In June 2021, GPR technology was used by the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan to locate 751 unmarked gravesites on the Marieval Indian Residential School site, which had been in operation for a century until it was closed down in 1996.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Advancements in GPR technology integrated with various 3D software modelling platforms, generate three-dimensional reconstructions of subsurface "shapes and their spatial relationships". By 2021, this has been "emerging as the new standard".


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Individual lines of GPR data represent a sectional (profile) view of the subsurface. Multiple lines of data systematically collected over an area may be used to construct three-dimensional or tomographic images. Data may be presented as three-dimensional blocks, or as horizontal or vertical slices. Horizontal slices (known as "depth slices" or "time slices") are essentially planview maps isolating specific depths. Time-slicing has become standard practice in archaeological applications, because horizontal patterning is often the most important indicator of cultural activities.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The most significant performance limitation of GPR is in high-conductivity materials such as clay soils and soils that are salt contaminated. Performance is also limited by signal scattering in heterogeneous conditions (e.g. rocky soils).


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Radar is sensitive to changes in material composition, detecting changes requires movement. When looking through stationary items using surface-penetrating or ground-penetrating radar, the equipment needs to be moved in order for the radar to examine the specified area by looking for differences in material composition. While it can identify items such as pipes, voids, and soil, it cannot identify the specific materials, such as gold and precious gems. It can however, be useful in providing subsurface mapping of potential gem-bearing pockets, or "vugs." The readings can be confused by moisture in the ground, and they can't separate gem-bearing pockets from the non-gem-bearing ones.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: When determining depth capabilities, the frequency range of the antenna dictates the size of the antenna and the depth capability. The grid spacing which is scanned is based on the size of the targets that need to be identified and the results required. Typical grid spacings can be 1 meter, 3 ft, 5 ft, 10 ft, 20 ft for ground surveys, and for walls and floors 1 inch–1 ft.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The speed at which a radar signal travels is dependent upon the composition of the material being penetrated. The depth to a target is determined based on the amount of time it takes for the radar signal to reflect back to the unit’s antenna. Radar signals travel at different velocities through different types of materials. It is possible to use the depth to a known object to determine a specific velocity and then calibrate the depth calculations.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: In 2005, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute introduced legislation to regulate GPR equipment and GPR operators to control excess emissions of electromagnetic radiation. The European GPR association (EuroGPR) was formed as a trade association to represent and protect the legitimate use of GPR in Europe.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Ground-penetrating radar uses a variety of technologies to generate the radar signal: these are impulse, stepped frequency, frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW), and noise. Systems on the market in 2009 also use Digital signal processing (DSP) to process the data during survey work rather than off-line.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: A special kind of GPR uses unmodulated continuous-wave signals. This holographic subsurface radar differs from other GPR types in that it records plan-view subsurface holograms. Depth penetration of this kind of radar is rather small (20–30 cm), but lateral resolution is enough to discriminate different types of landmines in the soil, or cavities, defects, bugging devices, or other hidden objects in walls, floors, and structural elements.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: GPR is used on vehicles for close-in high-speed road survey and landmine detection as well as in stand-off mode.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: In Pipe-Penetrating Radar (IPPR) and In Sewer GPR (ISGPR) are applications of GPR technologies applied in non-metallic-pipes where the signals are directed through pipe and conduit walls to detect pipe wall thickness and voids behind the pipe walls.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: Wall-penetrating radar can read through non-metallic structures as demonstrated for the first time by ASIO and Australian Police in 1984 while surveying an ex Russian Embassy in Canberra. Police showed how to watch people up to two rooms away laterally and through floors vertically, could see metal lumps that might be weapons; GPR can even act as a motion sensor for military guards and police.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: SewerVUE Technology, an advanced pipe condition assessment company utilizes Pipe Penetrating Radar (PPR) as an in pipe GPR application to see remaining wall thickness, rebar cover, delamination, and detect the presence of voids developing outside the pipe.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: EU Detect Force Technology, an advanced soil research company, design utilizes X6 Plus Grounding Radar (XGR) as an hybrid GPR application for military mine detection and also police bomb detection.


title: Ground-penetrating radar

text: The "Mineseeker Project" seeks to design a system to determine whether landmines are present in areas using ultra wideband synthetic aperture radar units mounted on blimps.


title: Potter's field

text: A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning "field of blood" in Aramaic), stated to have been purchased after Judas Iscariot's suicide by the high priests of Jerusalem with the coins that had been paid to Judas for his identification of Jesus. The priests are stated to have acquired it for the burial of strangers, criminals, and the poor, the coins paid to Judas being considered blood money. Prior to Akeldama's use as a burial ground, it had been a site where potters collected high-quality, deeply red clay for the production of ceramics, thus the name potters' field.


title: Potter's field

text: The term "potter's field" comes from – in the New Testament of the Bible, in which Jewish priests take 30 pieces of silver returned by a remorseful Judas:


title: Potter's field

text: The site referred to in these verses is traditionally known as Akeldama, in the valley of Hinnom, which was a source of potters' clay. After the clay was removed, such a site would be left unusable for agriculture, being full of trenches and holes, thus becoming a graveyard for those who could not be buried in an orthodox cemetery.


title: Potter's field

text: The author of Matthew was drawing on earlier Biblical references to potters' fields. The passage continues, with verses 9 and 10:


title: Potter's field

text: This is based on a quotation from Zechariah (). However, Matthew attributes the quote to Jeremiah. The author of Matthew may have been mistaken. There are two other possible reasons for the reference. First, Jeremiah also speaks of buying a field, in . That field is a symbol of hope, not despair as mentioned in Matthew, and the price is 17 pieces of silver. The author of Matthew could have combined the words of Zechariah and Jeremiah, while only citing the "major" prophet. Secondly, "Jeremiah" was sometimes used to refer to the Books of the Prophets "in toto" as "The Law" is sometimes used to refer to Moses' five books – Genesis through Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch.


title: Potter's field

text: Craig Blomberg suggests that the use of the blood money to buy a burial ground for foreigners in may hint at the idea that "Jesus' death makes salvation possible for all the peoples of the world, including the Gentiles." Other scholars do not read the verse as referring to Gentiles, but rather to Jews who are not native to Jerusalem.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has 6,978 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US Virgin Islands. The company is based in Memphis, Tennessee.


title: AutoZone

text: Originally a division of Memphis-based wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde, the company was known as Auto Shack. After the sale of the grocery operation to the Fleming Companies of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the name of the company was changed to AutoZone to reflect the new focus and to settle a lawsuit brought by Tandy Corporation for infringing on Tandy's "Radio Shack" trademark.


title: AutoZone

text: On July 4, 1979, the first store opened in Forrest City, Arkansas under the name of Auto Shack. Doc Crain was the store's first manager. Sales that first day totaled $300.00.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1981, Express Parts or VDP is implemented to get the customers hard to find parts by special ordering them through wholesalers. Total stores was 73 in 7 states.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1984, the company became the first auto parts retailer to create a quality control program for its parts. Total stores was 194 in 13 states.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1985, Doc Crain coined the term WITTDTJR, which stands for "What it takes to do the job right." Total store count is 263 in 14 states. Peter Formanek stepped in as president. He oversaw the auto parts firm's daily operations and worked on growth strategy.


title: AutoZone

text: By 1986, expansion had made the company grow into a large store chain across the South and the Midwest. That year, Darren Reltherford, manager of Auto Shack's Memphis, Tennessee store, received the first "Extra Miler" award, which has since been given to AutoZoners who show their dedication to customer satisfaction by "going the extra mile" for customer service. The Duralast line of alternators and starters is released.


title: AutoZone

text: The Loan-A-Tool program begins allowing customers the ability to borrow specific tools for jobs. The 4th Distribution Center in Greenville, South Carolina opens. Total of stores is 339 in 15 states.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1987, Auto Shack officially changed its name to AutoZone. The first AutoZone store was in Enid, Oklahoma. That year also, the company introduced WITT-JR, an electronic catalog used to look up parts and keep warranty information. Total of stores is now 459 in 16 states.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1989, the company began using a computerized store management system (SMS). The Duralast battery line is released consisting of Sub-Zero, Desert and long life. Total of stores is 513 in 17 states.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1991, its stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker symbol "AZO." It opened up at $27.50 a share. The 5th DC opens in Lafayette, Louisiana. The company also became the first auto parts retailer to register customer warranties in a computer database.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1994, AutoZone began using satellites to facilitate communication between stores and the corporate office. Sales hit $1.5 billion.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1995, AutoZone opened its 1,000th store in Louisville, Kentucky. Also, the "Duralast" trademark made its debut with the "Duralast" and "Duralast Gold" batteries. Total of stores is now 1,143 in 26 states.


title: AutoZone

text: 1996 was the year when the Internet era arrived at the company, when AutoZone opened its company Web site. The new commercial program debuted in Germantown, Tennessee. ALLDATA, a software company based in Elk Grove, California that provides automotive diagnostic and repair information, was acquired.


title: AutoZone

text: Company founder Pitt Hyde retired as chairman and CEO in 1997. John Adams became the new chairman and CEO.


title: AutoZone

text: In 1998, AutoZone acquired ADAP Inc. Who had stores under the ADAP Discount Auto Parts and Auto Palace nameplates respectively, both being auto parts chains in the northeastern United States with 112 stores, TruckPro L.P., a chain with 43 stores in 14 states, and the 560-store Chief Auto Parts Inc., a chain with a presence in 5 states. At the commencement of fiscal 1999, AutoZone made another acquisition by purchasing 100 Express stores from The Pep Boys—Manny, Moe & Jack. The company began a process of internationalization with their first store abroad, which opened in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. AutoZone closed the 1990s by debuting at the Fortune 500 list in 1999.


title: AutoZone

text: Steve Odland became AutoZone's third CEO in 2001. Also in 2001, AutoZone sold TruckPro to Paratus Capital Management.


title: AutoZone

text: In 2002, AutoZone developed a network of "hub, feeder, and satellite" stores to have more product in the market area, while reducing inventory investment. Sales hit $5.33 billion.


title: AutoZone

text: In 2003, the "Duralast tool" line was introduced. This was a year of important negotiations for AutoZone, as the company partnered with other important auto parts industry companies, such as CarMax and Midas. AutoZone de Mexico opens the first DC in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Total stores number 3,219 in 48 states and 49 in Mexico. In 2004, founder J.R. "Pitt" Hyde III was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.


title: AutoZone

text: In 2005, William C. Rhodes III was named president and CEO. Steve Odland left to become the chairman and CEO of Office Depot.


title: AutoZone

text: In 2007, Bill Rhodes, then 42, was named chairman, president and chief executive officer of AutoZone, Inc. on June 6.


title: AutoZone

text: On December 15, 2011, ALLDATA LLC, an operating unit of AutoZone, expanded its direct presence in Canada to better serve its growing customer base.


title: AutoZone

text: On August 17, 2012, AutoZone expanded into their 49th state Alaska by opening their 5,000th store in Wasilla, Alaska


title: AutoZone

text: In December 2012, AutoZone purchased AutoAnything.com, an ecommerce leader in aftermarket automotive parts based in San Diego, California.


title: AutoZone

text: By April 2017, AutoZone had been the largest retailer of automotive parts in North America for three consecutive years. As of August 2017, AutoZone had 5,465 locations in the United States, 524 locations in Mexico, and 46 locations in Brazil, for a total of 6,035.


title: AutoZone

text: On October 22, 2018, Pitt Hyde announced that he would be stepping down from AutoZone's board of directors.


title: AutoZone

text: In late May 2020, two AutoZone stores were destroyed by arson during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.


title: AutoZone

text: Since October 1995, AutoZone has been headquartered in its J.R. Hyde, III Store Support Center (SSC), a , eight-story building in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. As of 2013 there were over 1,200 employees there.


title: AutoZone

text: The project manager of the building's construction was Rob Norcross, a principal at LRK Inc. The building has the capability to withstand a 9.0 magnitude earthquake because it has a special base isolation system that had a price tag of $950,000.


title: AutoZone

text: Valucraft, Duralast, and Duralast Gold are AutoZone's private label brands for lead-acid automotive batteries (manufactured primarily by Johnson Controls, but also East Penn, Exide, and other manufacturers). Duralast Platinum is an AGM line of batteries. AutoZone also sells tools under the Duralast brand which carry a lifetime warranty.


title: AutoZone

text: Valucraft pads are being phased out, as of early 2015. Duralast GT Street pads introduced early 2018.


title: AutoZone

text: The Valucraft, Duralast, and Duralast Gold names are used on various other parts and accessories as well.


title: AutoZone

text: Duralast Elite pads were first trademarked and began being introduced to select markets in early 2020.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone's 6,978 retail outlets as of November 19, 2022 throughout the United States, Mexico and Brazil stock a variety of aftermarket parts as well as some OEM parts. All AutoZone stores are corporately owned; the company does not have franchise operations.


title: AutoZone

text: In 2004, AutoZone celebrated its 25th anniversary and announced a corporate sponsorship agreement with auto racing association NASCAR.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone holds the naming rights to the downtown Memphis baseball stadium that is the home of the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League. The company also sponsors the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl, alongside the College Football Playoff Foundation donated $250,136.03 to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl awarded 2018's Distinguished Citizen Award to Priscilla Presley.


title: AutoZone

text: They are an official sponsor of Bellator MMA, the world's second largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone paid $3.3 million to settle a lawsuit to the families of a family who was killed due to being rear-ended by an AutoZone-owned truck. The suit alleges that AutoZone was negligent in training the driver of the truck.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone faced a lawsuit for gender discrimination in which the plaintiff alleged that men treated her differently when she was promoted and that she feared revealing a pregnancy to her superior. When the pregnancy was discovered, she alleges that her district manager pressured her to step down from her position. She was demoted in February 2006 and fired in November 2011. The jury on the case ruled in 2014 in favor of the plaintiff, awarding her $185 million in punitive damages as well as approximately $873,000 in back wages. AutoZone has announced its intention to appeal the verdict. The Wall Street Journal's Jacob Gershman suggested that the verdict would be scaled back, noting that the jury verdict is not the end-all be-all.


title: AutoZone

text: A Georgia woman was fired after a customer insulted her and used multiple racial epithets against her. She alleges that the district manager told her to "suck it up," and she is filing a lawsuit against AutoZone for violating her civil rights.


title: AutoZone

text: AutoZone came under fire from allegations that a district manager had told an employee to remove a flag displayed on the company's premises for the sake of improved diversity. AutoZone denies that and claimed that it was the poor means by which the flag was put up, with duct tape and suction cups.


title: AutoZone

text: In June 2019 AutoZone entered into an $11 million settlement against with the State of California to resolve allegations that the company had violated state laws governing hazardous waste, hazardous materials, and confidential consumer information. AutoZone is charged with illegally disposing of millions of hazardous waste items, including used motor oil and automotive fluids, at landfills not authorized to accept hazardous waste.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Julius Jennings Hoffman (July 7, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He presided over the Chicago Seven trial.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Hoffman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Bertha (Weisberg) and Aaron Hoffman. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Hoffman attended the Lewis Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) and then received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Northwestern University at the age of sixteen in 1912. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Northwestern University School of Law in 1915.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Hoffman worked in the private practice of law in Chicago with the law firm of White and Hawxhurst from 1915 to 1936 and with the law firm of Markheim, Hoffman, Hungerford & Sollo from 1944 to 1947. He was general counsel for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company from 1936 to 1944. He was a Judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois from 1947 to 1953.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Hoffman was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 27, 1953, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, to a new seat created by 64 Stat. 443. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 13, 1953, and received commission the next day. He assumed senior status on February 3, 1972. He served until his death on July 1, 1983 in Chicago.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Over the course of his career as a judge, Hoffman presided over numerous important cases, including a tax evasion case against Tony Accardo, an obscenity case against Lenny Bruce, a deportation suit against alleged Nazi war criminal Frank Walus, and several desegregation suits.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: Hoffman's most notable case was the trial from April 9, 1969, to February 20, 1970, that involved charges against protesters arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention, originally known as the "Chicago Eight". During the course of the Chicago Eight trial, Hoffman refused to allow the defendant Bobby Seale to represent himself after Seale's original attorney became ill. This prompted conflicts with Seale that led to Hoffman ordering Seale to be gagged and shackled in the courtroom and eventually jailed for contempt. Finally, Hoffman removed Seale from the trial, leaving the case with only seven defendants, at which point the trial became known as the "Chicago Seven" trial. Because of this, and his non-objective attitude, Hoffman became the favorite courtroom target of the Chicago Seven defendants, who often openly insulted the judge. Abbie Hoffman (no direct relation) told Judge Hoffman "you are a "shande far dee Goyim"" ["a disgrace to the Jewish community in front of the Gentiles" in Yiddish] and that "[y]ou would have served Hitler better." He later added that "your idea of justice is the only obscenity in the room." Both Rennie Davis and Jerry Rubin told the judge, "This court is bullshit."


title: Julius Hoffman

text: All seven were found by a jury to be not guilty of conspiracy, but five of the defendants were found guilty of inciting a riot, and Hoffman sentenced each of the five to the maximum penalty: five years in prison and a fine of $5,000, plus court costs. In addition, Hoffman sentenced all eight defendants and both of their lawyers (William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass) to lengthy jail terms for contempt of court.


title: Julius Hoffman

text: On May 11, 1972, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated all of the contempt convictions, and on November 21, 1972, reversed all of the substantive convictions on a number of grounds. Among other things, the appeals court found that Hoffman had not sufficiently measured the biases of the jury and that he had exhibited a "deprecatory and often antagonistic attitude toward the defense."


title: Julius Hoffman

text: In 1974, author Joseph Goulden wrote a book called "The Benchwarmers", which was an exposé of the powerful and often private world of federal judges. Goulden conducted an in-depth investigation of Hoffman and pointed out that he had an abrasive reputation among Chicago lawyers even before his most famous case. Goulden mentioned a survey that had been done among Chicago attorneys who had recently appeared before the judge and 78% had an unfavorable opinion of him. They responded overwhelmingly negatively to the questions, "Does he display an impartial attitude?" and "Is he courteous to both the prosecution and defense?"


title: Julius Hoffman

text: In 1982, the Executive Committee of the United States District Court ordered that Hoffman not be assigned any new cases because of his age and complaints that he was acting erratically and abusively from the bench. However, he continued to preside over his ongoing cases until his death from natural causes the next year, a week before his 88th birthday.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2022, more than 28,000 students pursued 217 degree and certificate programs through VCU's 11 schools and three colleges. The VCU Health System supports the university's health care education, research, and patient care mission.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU had a record $310 million in sponsored research funding in the fiscal year 2019 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". A broad array of university-approved centers and institutes of excellence, involving faculty from multiple disciplines in the humanities, public policy, biotechnology and health care discoveries, supports the university's research mission. Twenty-eight graduate and first-professional programs are ranked by "U.S. News & World Report" as among the best in the country. VCU's athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I and are collectively known as the VCU Rams. They are members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The VCU campus includes historic buildings such as the Ginter House, now used by the school's provost.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU's history began in 1838 when the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College opened in Richmond. In 1844, it moved into its first permanent home, the Egyptian Building. In 1854, the Medical Department of Hampden–Sydney College received an independent charter from the Virginia General Assembly and became the "Medical College of Virginia" (MCV). A few years later in 1860, MCV conveyed all its property to the Commonwealth of Virginia and becomes a state institution in exchange for $30,000.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: As the Civil War began, Richmond became a focal point for battle and politics. Over a period of seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, Richmond's defensive line of batteries and fortifications set up under General Robert E. Lee, a daring ride around the Union Army by Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart, and an unexpected appearance of General Stonewall Jackson's famous "foot cavalry" combined to unnerve the ever-cautious McClellan, and he initiated a Union retreat before Richmond. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign resulted in Robert E. Lee's Confederate army retiring to the vicinity of Richmond and Petersburg, where they checked Grant's progress. After a long siege, Grant captured Petersburg and Richmond in early April 1865. VCU's Howitzer Monument commemorates the defense and the descendant Howitzer companies in WWI and WWII. As the fall of Petersburg became imminent, on "Evacuation Sunday" (April 2), President Davis, his Cabinet, and the Confederate defenders abandoned Richmond and fled south on the last open railroad line, the Richmond and Danville.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: The retreating soldiers were under orders to set fire to bridges, the armory, and supply warehouses as they left. The fire in the largely abandoned city spread out of control, and along with Union shelling, large parts of Richmond, and virtually all MCV buildings, were destroyed. The conflagration was not completely extinguished until the mayor and other civilians went to the Union lines east of Richmond on New Market Road (now State Route 5) and surrendered the city the next day. Union troops put out the raging fires in the city. The event became known as the Evacuation Fire. The occupation was overseen by General Godfrey Weitzel and later General Edward Ord.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: President Lincoln, who had been visiting General Grant and staying nearby at City Point, toured the fallen city (April 4–7) by foot and carriage with his young son Tad, and visited the former White House of the Confederacy and the Virginia State Capitol.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: About one week after the evacuation of Richmond, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9 ending the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse. Within the same week, on the evening of April 14, President Lincoln was assassinated in Washington D.C. by the Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Even as other portions of the South were already falling, the failure of the Peninsula Campaign to take Richmond led to almost three more years of warfare between the states.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: MCV survived the American Civil War, and moved to the forefront of clinical treatment with the introduction of the syringe, thermometer, vaginal speculum, cystoscope and local anesthesia in 1874. Prior to anesthesia, surgery was performed in patient rooms with chloroform, and surgery could only be performed in the winter months because cholera, typhoid and diphtheria made the population too weak to sustain an operation during the summer months. Also in 1874, through the binocular microscope, doctors saw for the first time that inflammation and blood cells were required for healing — so they at last abandoned the centuries-old practice of blood-letting.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: The most significant event of the following 25 years was the initiation of surgical antisepsis. Spraying operating rooms with carbolic acid had been introduced 14 years earlier by Lister in England, but its adoption was delayed in Virginia, under the notion that the pure country air of Virginia was in itself an antiseptic. In 1893, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, later University College of Medicine, was established by Hunter Holmes McGuire, Stonewall Jackson's friend and personal Doctor who had amputated Jackson's arm, just three blocks away from MCV. In 1912, McGuire Hall opened as the new home of the University College of Medicine. The following year, MCV and UCM merged through the efforts of George Ben Johnston and Stuart McGuire. MCV acquired the Memorial Hospital as a result of the merger.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Richmond Professional Institute traces its roots back to 1917, when it began as the Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health. In 1925, it became the Richmond division of The College of William & Mary. In 1939, this division became the Richmond Professional Institute of The College of William & Mary" (RPI). In 1947, the MCV Foundation was incorporated, and in 1962 RPI separated from William & Mary to become an independent state institution. Then in 1968, state legislation (Wayne Commission Report) merged MCV and RPI to become Virginia Commonwealth University. Pulitzer Prize winner and editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginius Dabney was named the first Rector of VCU and went on to write Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. Dabney is credited as the first responsible for asserting the new university's place as central to the history of Virginia.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Warren W. Brandt served as the first president of VCU. During his tenure, 32 degree programs were added, and the School of Allied Health Professions and the School of Community Services were established. In addition, more than $20 million of new construction was completed or initiated on both campuses, including the James Branch Cabell Library, Rhoads Hall, the School of Business building, the Larrick Student Center and a large addition to Sanger Hall.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In the 1980s, and under the leadership of VCU President Edmund Ackell, a major overhaul of the university's governance system and administrative structure was initiated. Dr. Ackell lead the administration in instituting a new system for both short-range and long-range university planning; establishing faculty convocation and a new set of faculty tenure and promotion guidelines; and establishing greater access to the community by supporting the use of the university's research and educational resources to meet social needs.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Eugene Trani became the president of VCU in 1990. During his tenure VCU became one of the largest universities in Virginia, growing from an enrollment of 21,764 in 1990, to 32,284 at the time of his retirement. VCU was the state's first university to enroll over 30,000 students. Under Dr. Trani's leadership VCU and the VCU Health System undertook more than $2.2 billion in capital construction and renovation projects.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In 2013, VCU was awarded a $62 million federal grant to oversee a national research consortium of universities, hospitals and clinics to study what happens to service members and veterans who suffer mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In 2010, VCU received a $20 million National Institutes of Health grant to join a nationwide consortium of research institutions working to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients. The Clinical and Translational Science Award made VCU the only academic health center in Virginia to join the prestigious CTSA network. In 2011, The Carnegie Foundation elevated Virginia Commonwealth University to "Very High Research Activity," with over 255 million in sponsored research.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In 2018, a series of protests by adjunct faculty were held at VCU, over low pay and no benefits. Ahead of the 2018-19 budget, $4.2 million was allocated to increase adjunct faculty funding from $800 to $1,000 per credit hour, about $1,000 less than what the coalition was demanding.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In 2022, VCU received a $104 million gift, the largest in university history, to support a new Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Virginia Commonwealth University has two main campuses in Richmond, Va.: the Monroe Park Campus, located west of downtown Richmond, and the MCV Campus in the urban center. Additionally, VCU has a branch campus in Education City, Doha, Qatar, along with numerous regional facilities.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Named after the city park (see Monroe Park), the Monroe Park Campus took its name in June 2004, replacing the former name, the Academic Campus of VCU. The Monroe Park Campus houses most of VCU's general education facilities, and is situated on the eastern end of the Fan district, a historic, late 19th-century neighborhood adjacent to downtown Richmond. Prior to the merger of the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia, the campus was the home to the entire Richmond Professional Institute. Today, the campus has a mixture of modern and vintage buildings, with over 40 structures built before 1900.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: The MCV Campus is home to the VCU Medical Center, which includes the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, the VCU College of Health Professions, and the medical center, which is overseen by the VCU Health System Authority. The campus is also home to the Massey Cancer Center (an NCI-designated Cancer Center) and the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The MCV Campus is an integral part of Richmond in the old Court End district. The neighborhood is located adjacent to the city's business and financial district near the state capitol. VCU's Health Sciences schools comprise the School of Allied Health Professions, the School of Dentistry, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the School of Pharmacy.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCUarts Qatar is VCU School of the Arts' branch campus located in the State of Qatar. It was established in 1998 through a partnership with Qatar Foundation and was the first university to open its doors in Education City. The contract was renewed in July 2012 and goes through July 2022. VCUarts Qatar offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees. As part of the contract, VCU is not allowed to open any other degree-granting arts or design programs in other Middle Eastern countries. VCUarts Qatar is accredited by National Association of Schools of Art & Design, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Council for Interior Design Accreditation.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU is not the only US campus in Education City, and it, along with the other universities, are the subject of criticism of their implicit acceptance of Qatar's alleged ties to extremism and human rights concerns.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU offers baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees, as well as professional and certificate courses.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Seventy-nine of VCU's programs are unique to Virginia, such as the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness major in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, as well as the Real Estate and Urban Land Development degree in VCU's School of Business. The university also offers a wide range of study options with 225 certificate, undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral degrees in the arts, sciences and humanities.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: The university's medical campus provides students with several opportunities for postgraduate study. Under the Guaranteed Admission Program, select incoming undergraduates who maintain a high academic standard are guaranteed a spot in a number of professional health science programs.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU Life Sciences comprises three units: the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity (CSBC), the Center for Environmental Studies (CES), and the Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences. VCU Life Sciences offers an undergraduate and graduate programs as well as a PhD program in Integrated Life Sciences (ILS). Note that the Department of Biology is a separate unit independent of Life Sciences although there are numerous active interactions between the two. The highly interdisciplinary, systems-based program relies on hundreds of faculty members. With activities at the local, regional and national levels, VCU Life Sciences helps increase public literacy in the life sciences and provides an assessment of American public attitudes toward the field.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: VCU schools of the Arts, Business, and Engineering have collaborated to create the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation in Product Design and Development. Student teams from these schools take on a product development or design challenge posed by one of the center's industry partners. In addition to the current collaboration, the College of Humanities and Sciences joined the Center late in the Fall 2012 semester. The VCU da Vinci Center currently offers an Undergraduate Certificate and a master's degree in Product Innovation. The Masters of Product Innovation is the first of its kind in the United States. The center was recognized by a report presented to President Obama as one of the 29 best programs to offer a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) degree. It was the only program in Virginia to be included on the list.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: In 2016, "U.S. News & World Report" classified VCU as a Tier 1 University with an overall National University rank of No. 156 and a rank of No. 84 among all public colleges and universities in the United States.


title: Virginia Commonwealth University

text: Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts) was ranked the No. 1 public university school of arts and design in the country (#4 among public & private institutions) by "U.S. News & World Report" in 2015. At that time, VCUarts was the only public university arts and design school in the country to ever be ranked this high in overall ranking. The "New York Times" called it "that rare public research institution that has put the arts front and center". The VCU Brandcenter, the School of Business' graduate program in advertising, has also been ranked first in the nation by "Creativity Magazine" and as one of the top 60 design schools in the world by "BusinessWeek".