MRT-3 eyes 60 kph running speed by December

MANILA, Philippines — The management of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) on Tuesday said it is looking at the possibility of raising the train’s running speed to 60 kilometers per hour (kph) by December this year once replacement of its rails has completed.

“Once all rail replacement activities are completed, the operating speed of MRT-3’s trains are expected to increase gradually, from the current 30 kph to 40 kph by October, 50 kph by November, and 60 kph by December,” read the statement.

With the increase in running speed, MRT-3 said the waiting time between trains would be from 8.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes.

MRT-3 is also expecting to add more operational trains from 15 to 20 trains which would also increase the number of passengers from 300,000 to 600,000 per day.

Repairs for rail line finished by September

To increase the running speed of MRT-3 trains, the management said it is eyeing to speed up its rail replacement activities by September 30 this year with the help of extended working hours during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) as approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).

Last April 6, the IATF-MEID approved that rail replacement works of MRT-3 would be extended to 10 hours or 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. from five hours or 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Currently, 55.45 percent or 36,540 linear meters out of 65,892 linear meters of rail were replaced. Of the 36,540, 5,616 linear meters were replaced during ECQ.

After completing rail replacement works, MRT-3 said it would conduct a system check in October which will test the “alignment of tracks, Overhead Catenary System (OCS), and even the signaling and communications systems of the mainline.”