WATCH: LRT suffers another glitch; passengers stuck in hot train
May mahihimatay na sa loob ano ba yan @ lrt ayos sistema
Posted by Kurt Ebol on Monday, March 21, 2016
A video showing commuters and personnel trying to open the stuck doors of an LRT coach has gone viral on social media
The video was posted by De La Salle University student Kurt Ebol on Tuesday at the Central Station of LRT-1.
Ebol told INQUIRER.net that the incident happened at around 9:30 a.m., when the southbound train went to a complete stop.
He said that the train did not even have air-conditioning.
Ebol said that after 10 to 12 minutes of being stuck on the tracks, he and his friends tried using the emergency lever in their coach to get some fresh air.
“Around 9:30 heading to Central from Carriedo in a train na walang air-con, biglang tumigil ‘yung train. Complete stop. Super init and ‘di nagsasalita ‘yung driver,” he said.
(Around 9:30, heading to Central from Carriedo in a train that did not have air-conditioning, the train stopped. Complete stop. It was really hot, and the driver did not even explain why.)
While they were able to open the door in their coach, he said that he was worried that those in the women’s coach were already suffocating due to the heat.
“Then kumakalabog ‘yung mga babae sa women’s area kasi di nila mabuksan ‘yung pinto and sobrang init talaga. Five minutes later may mga dumadating na na staff pero nagpapasara lang sila ng pinto. Sinasara naman namin pero sobrang init at ‘di naman umaandar, binubuksan namin ulit. Paulit ulit lang kasi ‘di naman umaandar. Lumalakas na ‘yung kalabog nu’ng mga babae sa kabila may mahihimatay na ata. Wala naman kaming magawa kasi ‘di namin mabubuksan ‘yun kasi nasa loob ‘yung lever,” Ebol said.
(The passengers at the women’s area were already banging on the door because they could not open it, and it was really hot inside. Five minutes later, the LRT staff arrived, but they just asked us to close the doors again. But since it was really hot and the train was not moving, we just opened the doors again. The women passengers started to bang on the doors more loudly, fearing someone might collapse. But we could not do anything to open the door because the lever was on the other side.)
Ten minutes later, another LRT train pushed their train to the next station. That was the time that he took a video.
He said that instead of getting an apology from the LRT personnel, they were blamed for opening the doors in their coach using the emergency lever.
“Ten minutes later tinulak na lang kami nu’ng train na nasa likod namin till makarating sa station. ‘Yun na ‘yung start nu’ng video kasi ‘di mabuksan yu’ng pinto ng may mahihimatay na and sinisisi kami nu’ng staff kasi binuksan daw namin ‘yung pinto kaya ‘di makaandar,” he said.
(Ten minutes later, another train just pushed the train we were boarding until we got to the next station. That’s when I started taking the video because the staff could not open the doors, and a passenger could collapse. The staff even blamed us for opening the door, which prevented the train from moving.
In the video, it can be seen that personnel and passengers were taking turns in opening the doors of the women’s coach.
Other commuters, meanwhile, were taking videos of the incident.
Ebol’s video already got more than 307,000 views as of this writing.
Asked for a statement, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) spokesperson Atty. Hernando Cabrera Jr. told INQUIRER.net that they are already asking Light Railway Maintenance Corporation (LRMC) for an explanation on the incident. LRMC is the operator of LRT-1.
“We have asked them to explain, and our monitoring team is conducting our own investigation,” Cabrera said in a text message.
INQUIRER.net has already asked LRMC for a statement but has not yet responded as of posting time.
WATCH: ‘Like a theme park ride,’ LRT coach runs with doors open
This is the second major breakdown of the LRT-1, the oldest elevated passenger train system in the country, just this month. On March 10, a student onboard an LRT-1 train caught on video the continued operation of the train with its doors open.
The management of LRT-1 has been blasted for “endangering” the lives of its passengers. IDL
READ: ‘LRT-1 endangered lives of passengers’—militant group
