Within the first week of 2018, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT 3) has already suffered seven breakdowns, three of which occurred on Saturday and affected more than a thousand passengers.
A northbound train unloaded around 325 passengers when it encountered a problem in the signaling system around 7 a.m.
It was pulled out of the line for defect analysis and repair as management suspected the wear and tear of the system’s subcomponents as the cause.
Less than an hour later, about 600 passengers were forced to get off another stalled train on the southbound side of Santolan station due to an electrical failure in the motor.
The MRT 3 explained in an advisory that the glitch might have been caused also by worn-out electrical components.
At 2:21 p.m., a third train encountered problems concerning one of the doors, disrupting the trip for about 230 southbound riders at Quezon Avenue station.
The malfunction may have caused by passengers who had been leaning on the door or forcing it open, according to management.
Except on Wednesday, MRT operations started the year with at least one train conking out daily either due to electrical failure in the motor or a problem in its components, such as the speedometer.
Since Jan. 1, close to 3,000 passengers have been unloaded from the trains.
The Department of Transportation earlier said it had procured P8.66 million worth of parts for the rolling stock and another P7.33 million worth of parts for the tracks.
Assistant Transport Secretary for Rails TJ Batan said some of the parts had already been delivered while the rest were expected to arrive in the coming weeks until March.
The train system on Edsa, which serve an average of 463,000 commuters daily, suffered more than 500 breakdowns in 2017.