The new prototype of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) train is now being assembled by a Chinese company, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said on Thursday.
DOTC spokesman Michael Sagcal, in a phone interview, said the prototype train coaches were delivered Thursday morning at the Light Rail Transit Authority depot in Pasay City using trailer trucks.
Sagcal said Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company started to assemble the trains and would finish the assembly on Thursday.
READ: Prototype of new MRT-3 trains arrives in PH
He said that after the assembly, the prototype would be transferred to MRT-3 depot in North Edsa in Quezon City.
Sagcal said it would be transferred Thursday night after the trains’s operations.
Once transferred at the MRT-3 depot, other aspects of the train such as lighting, air conditioning, and doors among others would be tested.
This will take effect from September to October, he said.
He said the trains would undergo “dynamic testing” starting in November until December 2015 before the trains proceed to regular operations.
Sagcal said that if no glitches would be found, the 48 brand new trains of the MRT-3 would start to be delivered in the first quarter of 2016.
The DOTC spokesman said that the new MRT-3 trains would be beneficial to the hundreds of thousands of passengers of the train system.
According to the MRT-3 management, the train has around 600,000 passengers everyday, an overwhelming excess to its daily passenger capacity of 350,000. Nestor Corrales/RAM
MRT-3 prototype. Photo from DOTC spokesman Michael Sagcal
MRT-3 prototype. Photo from DOTC spokesman Michael Sagcal
MRT-3 prototype. Photo from Michael Sagcal
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