LRT-2 suspends operations after fire hits Santolan Station

MANILA, Philippines — The Light Rail Transit 2 (LRT-2) temporarily suspended operations after a fire struck its Santolan Station on Thursday morning.

ADVISORY: LRT-2 has temporarily suspended operations following a fire incident at Santolan this morning caused by burnt UPS. Investigation and intervention ongoing. Operations will immediately resume after verifying that no other system (equipment) has been affected.

— LRT2 (@OfficialLRTA) October 8, 2020

“LRT-2 has temporarily suspended operations following a fire incident at Santolan this morning caused by burnt UPS (uninterrupted power supply),” the management of the rail line announced in a tweet at 9:03 a.m.

“Investigation and intervention ongoing. Operations will immediately resume after verifying that no other system (equipment) has been affected,” it added.

In an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) spokesperson Hernando Cabrera explained that the link between the revenue line and control center of the LRT-2 was affected by the fire at the power supply system of the Santolan Station.

“The moment na hindi na nakikita ng control center ‘yung operation, automatic wala ka nang operation kasi nga unsafe na ‘yung mangyayari. Hindi na safe ‘yung train operation mo. So this is part of our safety protocols noong itinigil namin ang operasyon,” he added.

(The moment that the control center cannot monitor the operations, the train operations will automatically be suspended because it will be unsafe. Suspending the trips is part of our safety protocols.)

Cabrera said LRTA maintenance and engineering personnel are looking at two options to resume operations of the rail line: power up the link between the revenue line and control center through a generator set, or secure another power source.

He added that they aim to power up this link within the day so that LRT-2 trains can be operated safely.

According to the LRTA official, the LRT-2 line normally serves 28,000 passengers because of physical distancing protocols in trains amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This means around 14,000 passengers were affected by the suspension of train operations in the morning.

“Hopefully hanggang doon lang tayo, hanggang umaga lang and then siguro by lunchtime makapag-operate tayo para at least ‘yung remaining half ng ating mga pasahero maserve pa rin natin hanggang mamayang hapon,” he added.

(Hopefully, the suspension will only be in the morning, and then maybe by lunchtime we can resume operations so that the remaining half of the passengers can be catered to in the afternoon.)

Investigation is ongoing to identify the cause of the fire that hit the power supply system, according to Cabrera.

RELATED STORIES

LRT-2 operations suspended for almost 1 hour due to ‘technical issues’

Only 160 passengers per train at LRT-2 during ‘new normal’

/MUF