DOTr hopes to restore number of MRT-3 trains soon

February 20, 2018

Hounded by glitches in the operations of the MRT-3 that reduced daily running trains from 11 in December to as low as seven, an official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) told a Senate hearing it hopes to increase the number of trains soon.

DOTr Undersecretary for Rail TJ Batan said Tuesday spare parts for the trains have begun arriving along with components for the signalling system.

Batan said Japan is "helping the Philippines to fully restore MRT."

"Currently, we have seven trains running on average," said Batan in the hearing presided over by Senator Grace Poe. "We aim to bring back the number of running trains to 10 by the end of February and after Holy Week, (with) three and a half day maintenance shutdown, back to 15 trains."

Batan said engineers from Sumitomo, which designed and run the system from 2000-2012, will submit the MRT system audit report on March 15.

"After that we will sit down ( with the Japanese side) and discuss the terms of assistance under ODA ( official development assistance)," said Batan.

The DOTr has been deploying buses for passengers during the morning rush hour and the early evening hours. From February 1-20, the DOTr said a total of 636 buses have served 46.674 passengers. It picks up passengers at the MRT-3 North Avenue station going to Ortigas and Ayala Stations.  DMS