Battered trains, tracks led to MRT-3 shutdown last Sept. 6 – rail exec
MANILA, Philippines — The deteriorating condition of the trains and tracks of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) was what led to the hours-long suspension of service that occurred last Sept. 6, an official said Thursday.
The operations of the MRT-3 were suspended for about three hours last Sept. 6 after a cable of the Overhead Catenary System (OCS) at the Guadalupe station snapped, causing the lack of power supply in the whole train system.
READ: Power supply glitch stalls MRT-3 operations
The train line implemented a provisionary service for eight hours before it resumed full operations in the afternoon.
READ: Partial MRT-3 operations resume after 3-hour shutdown
READ: MRT-3 full operations resume
MRT-3 Director Michael Capati explained that the 19-year-old trains and tracks were “long overdue” for rehabilitation and general overhaul.
“‘Yung tren kasi natin are due for rehabilitation and general overhaul… ‘Yung tracks din natin are not in a good condition,” Capati told reporters in a press conference.
He said that full rehabilitation of trains tracks would start by February or March next year, but for the meantime, the MRT-3 was replacing spare parts and conducting “extensive” preventive maintenance to avoid any complications in its service.
However, there is no assurance that a repeat of the Sept. 6 debacle will not happen again as they still have to wait for the full rehabilitation of the train system to be finished.
Capati could only assure that its trains undergo inspection and preventive maintenance.
“Wala kaming inaakyat na tren sa linya na hindi dumadaan sa masusing train preparation at preventive maintenance. Lahat ng inaakyat namin sa taas ay dumadaan sa proseso,” he said.
The 26-month rehabilitation of the MRT-3 started last May and is expected to be finished by July 2021.
For now, to service more passengers, Capati said the MRT-3 was expecting to run the three sets of Dalian trains by this month.
He said they were just waiting for the go-signal of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and its maintenance provider, the consortium Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and TES Philippines (TESP), before they could deploy the China-made trains.
“We are doing our best to make sure na ma-insert namin ang Dalian the soon as possible time, hopefully this month,” he said./ac
READ: MRT-3 line expects to deploy Dalian trains this month — MRT exec
