It’s Christmas and MRT still breaks down

MRT-3 (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) just can’t seem to have a break, even during the Christmas season, as it broke down twice during the holiday.

Despite the low number of passengers on Christmas Day, a southbound train was forced to unload around 205 passengers at the Quezon Avenue station at 4:33 p.m. due to door failure.

In an advisory, the MRT-3 management said that a cause for a train door to fail is stress in its components. This may be due to a passenger’s leaning on the door or forcing it open.

The unloading incident come just a day after a southbound train also unloaded around 240 passengers before it left the North Avenue station at around 6:16 p.m. on Sunday. The MRT-3 management said that the train had a broken public address system, which is used by the driver to communicate with the passengers.

In both incidents, passengers were transferred to the next train in around four minutes.

Since Monday, the MRT-3 encountered 10 unloading incidents due to various technical problems.

Earlier, the MRT-3 shortened its operating hours for the holidays due to the expected low number of passengers. On Christmas Day, train operations will end at 9:50 p.m.

On Dec. 30, Rizal Day, the MRT 3 will start operations earlier than usual at the North Avenue station at 4:45 a.m., with the last one leaving Taft Avenue at 9:50 p.m. On New Year’s Eve, the first train will leave North Avenue station at 4:45 a.m. The last train for the day will leave Taft Avenue station at 8:26 p.m.

On New Year’s Day, train operations will start at 6:30 a.m. and end at 9:50 p.m.

Following repeated breakdowns and glitches plaguing the country’s main train system, the MRT-3 earlier shortened its operations by an hour. Instead of 5 a.m., it starts operating at 5:30 a.m. Operations also cease at 10:30 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.