MRT-3 on track to being fixed, restored — DOTr

Passengers walk on the track of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 on EDSA after a northbound train stalled on the morning of June 19, 2019. Photo by Consuelo Marquez / INQUIRER.NET

APPARENTLY still reacting to Sen. Grace Poe’s questions over the seemingly worsening condition of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3’s (MRT-3) facilities despite a huge rehabilitation budget, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday issued more details about the train line.

Poe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, on two occasions earlier this week criticized the transport agency for what the senator said are recurring problems in MRT-3’s operations.

The DOTr refuted the senator’s views.

On Friday the agency in a statement released to journalists said the MRT-3 is “on track to being fixed and restored to high-grade design state by the third quarter of 2021,” noting the line’s “comprehensive rehabilitation [is] underway and ahead of schedule.”

In the statement, DOTr undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan said “fixing MRT-3 requires a painstaking process that involves removing the causes” of the problem. He cited these as terminating the services of Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI); “procuring the solution;” reacquiring the services of Sumitomo Corp.-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI); and implementing a 26-month rehabilitation period.

“We recognize that the process is taking time, but the DOTr … has acted decisively and swiftly at every step, beginning with the termination of BURI …. We are not deaf to the inconvenience being endured by our commuters, and this is precisely why the DOTr has already put in motion a series of strategic steps that will deliver a very dramatic improvement in MRT-3 in the course of the next two years,” he said.

The DOTr cited there were 55 service interruptions in 2015, 63 in 2016, and 81 in 2017. But these have “plunged” to 17 in 2018. Twelve service interruptions have been recorded in the first six months of 2019.

It added unloading incidents in the first half of 2015 reached 180, 333 for the same period in 2016, 200 in 2017, 49 in 2018 and 14 this year.

The transport agency noted that under the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Project, Sumitomo-MHI will overhaul all 72 trains of the railway, replace all mainline tracks, rehabilitate power and overhead catenary systems, upgrade the signaling system, communications and CCTV systems, and repair all of MRT-3’s escalators and elevators, among other system repairs and improvements.

The DOTr said the project will last 43 months, but that rehabilitation work should be completed in 26 months, starting from May this year.