MRT riders, mark Feb ’16

A new train will be added to the fleet of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) by February next year, helping alleviate the crush of commuters—but not by much, transportation officials said on Wednesday.

The first of 48 new coaches will arrive before Christmas—on Dec. 23 or 24—and shall be assembled with two other cars arriving in February, according to Transportation Undersecretary Juanito Bucayan Jr.

“Once [the train] is fully assembled, the cars will be tested for safety, so we will run them for several thousands of kilometers during the off-revenue period of the MRT,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a hearing of the House transportation committee.

“So by February, we will already have tested all the cars for safety, and then we expect to have one full train operational by February,” Bucayan said.

MRT General Manager Roman Buenafe said the new train would help during the rush hour “but the trains will still be full.”

He added that he expects a more substantial reduction in passenger density when all 48 coaches arrive “by the end of 2016 or early 2017.”

“Right now the capacity of MRT-3 is we’re ranging from 12 to 14 trains per day, on a consistent run. The total loop time is still at 80 minutes because we have not sped up the running time of the trains,” he said.

Bucayan, however, was more optimistic: “I think it will be a little faster.”

“Now, we’re a tight squeeze in the trains. I think we should be able to increase the speed especially with the program of track replacement,” he said.

About 380,000 passengers take the MRT daily, he said.

But he could not say if this was still true during the busy Christmas rush. “I haven’t checked the December numbers,” he said.