DOTC hits firm for delaying MRT upgrade

The transportation department hit back at the recent legal moves of private sector-led Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc. that stalled a train deal with a Chinese manufacturer, saying it should explain the delays to upgrade the congested railway line.

MRT Holdings, which controls the operator of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), recently filed an injunction with a temporary restraining order to stop a deal between the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and China’s Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. to supply badly needed train cars for MRT 3, which is running well beyond its intended capacity.

MRT Holdings said the government deal failed to respect its rights under their build-operate-lease agreement, which gives the private sector group the right to supply the new trains. The Makati Regional Trial Court has set a hearing on the matter on Feb. 13.

The DOTC, in a statement on Sunday, demanded “that the company explain to the public why it has not improved the services of the MRT 3 system despite the badly needed addition of light rail vehicles (LRVs) for many years.”

“[MRT Holdings] owes us all an explanation.  If they admit to having the responsibility for adding LRVs to the MRT 3 line, why haven’t they done anything all these years?  Instead, they have forced MRT riders to suffer for so long,” Transportation spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal said in the statement.

An MRT Holdings spokesperson did not immediately return calls seeking the company’s comment on Sunday.

MRT Holdings, which is owned by a consortium of companies, including Sobrepeña-led Fil-Estate Group, Ayala Land and Campos-led Greenfield Development, controls Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC), which operates MRT 3.

“While the MRTC Board of Directors has denied authorizing the filing of the suit to stop the addition of train coaches, [MRT Holdings] filed the case in its capacity as shareholder or owner of MRTC,” the DOTC noted in its statement.

The department awarded the MRT 3 Capacity Expansion Project to Dalian Locomotive on Jan. 16.  Under the contract, Dalian is supposed to construct and deliver 48 new train cars to the MRT 3 line over the next three years, it added.

Dalian emerged as the front-runner for the deal as early as June last year but the awarding was partly delayed by extortion allegations raised by Czech Ambassador Josef Ryctar, on behalf of Czech train maker Inekon, against MRT 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III. Vitangcol, who denied all allegations, was later cleared by the DOTC.

MRT 3 currently has 73 train cars originally meant to serve 350,000 people per day but the heavily subsidized train fare and sometimes crippling traffic in Metro Manila has increased ridership to almost 600,000 people daily.

The DOTC added in its statement that it managed to secure Dalian’s assurance that it would exercise all efforts to complete the delivery of all 48 LRVs within two years, ahead of the three-year period allowed in the contract.

The temporary order of protection issued by the Makati Regional Trial Court, however, prevents the DOTC and Dalian from starting work within this timeline.

Once it is allowed to push through, the project is expected to significantly improve the railway’s services, the DOTC said in its statement.