DOTr sends notice of termination to MRT-3 maintenance provider

PHOTO/ Dan Paurom

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has served a notice of termination to the maintenance provider of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) for its “poor performance” in ensuring the reliability of the country’s busiest train system.

The DOTr gave Busan Universal Rail Inc. (Buri) seven days from receipt of the notice to explain why its contract should not be terminated. The notice was issued on Tuesday, but was released to the media only on Friday.

In issuing the termination notice, the DOTr said that Buri has failed to “ensure the availability of contractually obligated number of trains, and more importantly, to put in operation reliable and efficient trains.”

Over the last few weeks, the MRT-3 has suffered from several train breakdowns. In fact, since Wednesday last week, the MRT-3 broke down 18 times for various technical issues.

The DOTr added that Buri also failed “to implement a feasible procurement plan for spare parts,” affecting its ability to immediately repair defective trains. It pointed out that Buri also has not complied with the “contractual requirements of a complete and up-to-date computerized maintenance management system.”

Buri expressed confidence yesterday that its contract will not be terminated, as it pointed out that the grounds cited by the DOTr “will be proven to be bereft of factual and legal basis.”

According to Buri spokesperson lawyer Charles Mercado, since January last year they were able to increase to 22 the number of running trains from just 13 in January last year. He added that they have also “delivered even more than what is required” under their P3.8-billion contract with the DOTr.

Mercado said that Buri being blamed for the many incidents of train removal and service interruptions was also “misplaced,” since “these incidents are mainly caused by MRT-3 system design issues and not by alleged poor maintenance.”

“These are worsened by the decrepit condition of the rails long due for government replacement and excessive loading above the rated usage of the modified coaches. The evidence dates back to long before Buri assumed its contract,” Mercado said in a statement.

He pointed out that even in the MRT-3’s first year of service, it already suffered from more than 1,400 glitches despite its coaches and rails being new and the number of passengers then was well within capacity.

To date, the MRT-3 has an average of 463,000 passengers daily. The figure is well beyond its carrying capacity of 350,000 passengers.

The DOTr said that once it has received Buri’s reply, it will decide within 10 days whether it would terminate Buri’s contract that was set to expire in 2019.