Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Daily passengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) will have to wait some more for an easier commute as the promised additional trains of the mass transport system will not be making the targeted date for commercial run, which the transportation department set by the end of March — or before April.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said on Tuesday (March 29) that the first new train set of two light rail vehicles (LRVs) had not yet completed the required 5,000-kilometer run before it could be put into actual operation.
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Secretary Jun Abaya said, so far, the new LRV had only completed 3,009 kilometers — still short of almost 2,000 kilometers as required by the contract.
“Sinubukan namin… We wanted it available sooner, but again, hindi pwede madaliin para lang maka-comply sa deadline,” Abaya explained.
[Translation: “We tried… We wanted it available sooner, but again, we cannot rush it just so we could meet the deadline.”]
Abaya, however, said that the arrival of the other LRVs were still on schedule.
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The two LRVs arrived in Manila from Dalian, China on February 17. They are part of the 48 new coaches of the DOTC-MRT3 capacity expansion project aimed at increasing the the elevated railway’s capacity to over 800,000 daily passengers.
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The MRT 3 was designed to hold 350,000 daily passengers, but had been carrying some 500,000 commuters everyday for years — which had hastened the wear and tear of the 17-year-old train system.
CNN Philippines’ Kristine de Guzman contributed to this report.
