Trouble-prone MRT on its last leg, warns Poe

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Sen. Grace Poe on Wednesday pressed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to immediately address the glitches at Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) even if it meant halting its operations for a massive repair work.

The glitches, which bogged down MRT 3 trains more than 500 times in 2017 and continued well into the first day of 2018, were proof that the “current system is already on its last leg,” Poe said.

“The DOTr should start the year with urgency in addressing this problem that might require extensive repair work rather than just regular maintenance,” she said in a statement.

The senator, chair of the public services committee, said the extensive repair work might need “to put operations on hold, and without an alternative mass transport system to replace it, this would bring commuters greater woes.”

Poe said this was a challenge that the Duterte administration needed to resolve immediately.

“Hopefully, the new year will give the DOTr the chance to start fresh and show us that it is a department that is capable of making better management and engineering choices and not politically driven decisions,” she said.

Days ago, an MRT 3 train was forced to offload 300 southbound commuters at  Guadalupe station due to “worn-out electrical subcomponents.”