MRT-3 to reduce operating hours for maintenance

The Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) will reduce its operating hours to give more time for maintenance amid the cases of technical problems.

“We are implementing new operational hours. Mula 5 a.m., 5:30 [a.m.] na, so makakatipid tayo diyan ng another 30 minutes na gagamitin natin sa pag me-maintain,” Mike Capati, MRT director for operations said in a press conference Thursday.

(From 5 a.m., it will now start at 5:30 a.m., so we will have another 30 minutes to use for maintenance works.)

The MRT-3 will now end its operating hours by 10:30 p.m., instead of 11 p.m.

“Magkakaron tayo ng isang oras na additional time para sa checking ng mga bagon,” he said.

(We will have an additional one hour to check the coaches of the train.)

Train operations were disrupted on Thursday morning after a link between two MRT coaches got detached along the northbound of Buendia and Ayala station, forcing passengers to disembark.

This incident was unusual from the almost regular cases of technical glitches suffered by the MRT-3.

Capati said an investigation is still underway.

“Pinag-iispan pa kung ano ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit nahiwalay….Lahat ng anggulo tinitingnan natin at hindi natin ‘yan pwedeng madiliin,” he said.

(We are still investigating the reason why it got detached….We’re looking at every angle and we can’t rush this.)

Based on initial findings, there was no electrical problem that led to the incident.

“We don’t rule out anything but we don’t want to pre-empt anything,” he said.

Despite the incident, Capati assured the public it was still safe to ride the MRT, and even said they were having “good operations” the past few days with less unloading incidents at peak hours. /je