‘No more long queues at MRT by December’

There will no longer be long queues at Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-3 stations by the end of the year, an official of the train line’s operator said on Monday.

Appearing at a Senate inquiry, MRT-3 Operations Director Deo Manalo said the train line would be able to transport more passengers by December after a power upgrade is completed.

“When there are more trains, we need additional power. If we run more trains, we need more power,” Manalo, an engineer, told the Senate public services committee.

He noted that the MRT-3 could only power 20 trains but the electricity situation was expected to improve by November.

“The power upgrade will be completed by November and by December, we can add additional trains,” he said. “By the end of the year, we are sure the long lines will disappear.”

He said the MRT-3 aimed to increase the number of passengers per direction from the current 17,730 to 23,600. Estimated ridership will also be hiked from 600,000 to 700,000 passengers.

By 2018, Manalo said they expected more trains to be added to enable the line to carry 700,000 passengers daily which would further be increased to 800,000 passengers a day in 2019.

Commuters jostle to board the few operating trains during rush hour at theMRT North EDSA station in Quezon City. —EDWIN BACASMAS

Manalo also explained the problem with the train cars that were purchased from China for P3.8 billion but were later found to be unusable because of technical issues.

Manalo said the trains from China were “compatible” with the MRT line but there was a problem with the “communication between the train computer and the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system.”

“In the test that was conducted, the ATP did not accept the feedback from the train computer,” he said. “We’re targeting to solve the feedback issue within the month.” —CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO