Tugade: no new MRT-3 trains until they’re proven safe

Despite the frequent breakdown of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3), Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said he would not deploy the Dalian trains bought by the Aquino administration until he was certain these could be used safely.

At the sidelines of Monday’s launching of the public utility vehicle modernization program, Tugade said the operation of the new trains would be “predicated on safety, reliability and security.”

“I will not roll [them] out until I am sure that the riding public will be safe, secure and convenient (sic) and that the equipment is reliable. It is better for me to be cursed by the people while they’re standing than [to be] cried upon by the families of those who got caught in a train accident,” he told reporters.

Last week, the MRT-3 management was forced to scale down operations after a train broke its axle. From 20 trains running at 40 kph during peak hours, only 15 trains limited to a speed of 20 kph were deployed to give way to a systematic check of the fleet.

This created longer lines at stations of the MRT-3 which currently serves an average of 463,000 passengers daily.

Deo Manalo, MRT-3 director for operations, said they were waiting for Canada’s Bombardier to release the certificates for the 48 Dalian train cars from China worth P3.8 billion.