Lawmakers don’t believe MRT line is safe

MRT Train. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines–The private firm maintaining the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 remains in denial about the true state of the country’s biggest train system as it rejected an adverse report by Hong Kong’s MTR Corp. Ltd., that revealed the alarming state of its tracks and trains.

In Monday’s public hearing of the House committee on Metro Manila development, Allan Ortencio of Autre Porte Technique Global Inc. (APT Global) disputed the MTR report as he insisted that MRT 3 remained safe for commuters based on its actual experience in maintaining the trains, tracks and facilities.

Ortencio stood his ground on his positive assessment of the MRT 3 even after the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), which hired it last year, admitted to the lawmakers that the MTR findings were “in line” with or “not too far” from its own assessment of the true condition of the trains.

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza was incredulous over Ortencio’s insistence that the trains were safe. “I would like to put on record the statement of APT Global so that we can put him to jail if something wrong happens with the MRT,” said Atienza.

“It will be on the conscience of the DOTC if something bad happens to the riding public who take the MRT 3. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen and we want to prevent that,” said committee chair Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo.

In the executive summary presented to the lawmakers, the MTR rated the MRT 3 tracks system as poor or unsafe for continuous operations with the number of broken rail cases jumping to 33 in the last three years from only four reported in 2011 when Sumitomo Corp. was handling maintenance.

Aside from the tracks, the MTR rated the station facilities as “poor” or “customer requirements are consistently not being met,” noting that at least a quarter of its 46 escalators were out of order due to lack of spare parts.

Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said the DOTC itself was trying to hide the true state of the MRT 3 as it refused to provide MTR with data on MRT 3’s parts inventory and maintenance operations.

“Why is the DOTC not willing to open the MRT 3 to a full blown audit?” asked Ridon.

During the same hearing, Abakada Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz questioned the DOTC’s insistence on pushing an arbitration case against the train’s owners, MRT Holdings Corp., and looking for a new private partner in the system when the main priority of consumers is the safety of the trains ferrying 600,000 passengers a day.