DOTr exec defends latest MRT-3 glitch after 29 days of trouble-free run

MRT-3 (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

An official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has defended the latest mechanical glitch of the Metro Rail Transit-3 that broke its 29-day trouble-free run.

According to DOTr Communications Director Goddes Libiran, it was still “not a bad accomplishment” that the MRT-3 suffered electrical failure 29 days after running without any incident of unloading its passengers.

On Wednesday, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade boasted of MRT-3’s longest glitch-free streak since 2011.

READ: MRT-3 has longest ‘no unloading’ streak at 29 days — Tugade

The next day, however, it unloaded 420 passengers at the Araneta Center-Cubao Station due to an electrical failure.

READ: MRT-3 unloads 420 passengers at Araneta Center-Cubao station

“‘Yun na ang pinakamahabang ‘no unloading incident streak’ since 2011. Hindi na po siguro masamang accomplishment ‘yun,” Libiran told INQUIRER.net on Friday.

(That’s the longest “no unloading incident streak” since 2011. Maybe that’s not a bad accomplishment already.)

Libiran said MRT-3 passengers normally experience around three malfunctions a day.

“Please note that even at the beginning, we were very clear in saying that unloading incidents can happen anytime. It happens even in first world countries,” Libiran noted.

“What we, at the DOTr MRT-3, do is work harder to employ all strategies and needed work to make sure that we prevent it from happening again as much as we can,” the DOTr official added. Cathrine Gonzales               /kga