Morning commute goes awry as 2 MRT trains hit by glitches

Nearly a thousand distressed passengers were offloaded after two Metro Rail Transit (MRT) trains were hit by glitches on Saturday morning.

The first glitch happened at 6:52 a.m. when a signaling error downed a northbound train at Boni Station, offloading about 325 commuters, the MRT management said in a service report.

The management said the error may have been coused by worn out signaling sub-components or a faulty speedometer due to fluctuating power supply caused by worn out electrical sub-components.

The second came at 7:48 a.m. when a southbound train at Santolan-Annapolis Station was hit by an electrical failure in its motor, unloading about 600 passengers, according to the report.

The defect was caused by an electrical failure due to worn out electrical sub-components, the management said.

All disembarked passengers were accommodated by skip trains, or empty train coaches, after the defective trains were brought in to the transit line’s depot for preventive maintenance.

The glitches were the fifth and sixth for the year 2018. More than 500 glitches were reported in 2017./asu