Sumitomo, Mitsubishi Heavy among firms DOTr negotiating with to maintain MRT 3

November 23, 2017

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement Thursday said high-level discussions are ongoing with potential qualified firms who can provide maintenance requirements of MRT 3, including Sumitomo Corporation and its technical partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Sumitomo built the MRT 3 line and operated it for 12 years until the government chose not to renew the contract due to high costs of the contract.

"Finding an interim maintenance service provider for MRT 3 in the medium-term, and an operations and maintenance concessionaire in the long-term, are some of the measures that the DOTr is taking to restore MRT-3’s operational reliability for its 500,000 daily riders,” DOTr said.

MRT 3, which runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serves over 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.

The department last month ended the maintenance contract of Busan Universal Rail Inc., two years ahead of its three-year agreement, citing frequent breakdowns.

Last week, one of the coaches of a train headed for Ayala was detached from the two other coaches. Around 130 passengers walked along the rails to the next station.

A week before that, a woman fell from the platform of the MRT 3 Ayala Station, severing her right arm. MRT management paid for the woman's expenses in the hospital where surgeons were able to reattach her arm to her body.

On Thursday, Transport Undersecretary for Rails Cesar Chavez gave his irrevocable resignation to President Rodrigo Duterte

In his resignation letter to Duterte dated November 23, Chavez said he resigned from his post because of the "recent events involving MRT3 system and  simple sense of delicadeza, which I have adhered to throughout my professional life gives me no choice but to resign from my said position.”  DMS