MRT-3 to cut operating hours on weekends for repair works

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) will have shortened operations on weekends to give way for its repairs, an MRT official said.

General Manager Roman Buenafe said Friday that the shortened MRT-3 operations would start from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and from 12 noon to 11 p.m. during Sundays.

The normal schedule of the MRT-3 is from 4:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Buenafe, however, said there was no definite date yet for the shortened weekend trip since the “welding kit” needed for the repair of the trains railways would be procured abroad.

He said the Global APT, the MRT-3’s maintenance provider, does not have necessary tools to repair the railways,

According to him, the defective tracks are one of the reasons for recent operational glitches hounding the trains.

He said the repair would focus on the critical six-kilometer stretch of the train that runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

The MRT-3 has had multiple breakdowns just in the past week, including a brake glitch on Tuesday which caused many of its passengers to ‘fall down like dominoes.’

On Jan. 4, the MRT-3 and the two lines of the Light Rail Transit hiked their fares purportedly to improve their services.

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