MRT

by Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star), 14 Feb 2020 Work on the Metro Manila subway is at standstill. Tunneling, promised to Congress by Oct., then moved to Nov., then to Jan., and lately to Feb., has yet to begin. The Dept. of Transport spent millions of pesos during the Christmas rush to simulate earthmovings. When…

By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star), Nov 27, 2017 No, I didn’t think up that headline. I saw it as a hashtag on social media. Filipino humor can be devastating during difficult times. Unfortunately for whoever is the transport secretary, they are only as good as the performance of the MRT3.

By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star), Nov 8, 2017 “Better late than never” was a lawmaker’s reaction to the sacking Monday of MRT-3’s shoddy maintenance contractor. From the start in Jan. 2016 Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) had cheated. It never replaced worn out parts on time, and if at all used lousy cheap alternatives.…

by Jovic Yee, Inquirer, Nov 7, 2017 With the government now in charge of maintaining the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has assured riders that it would improve the efficiency of the country’s busiest train system within “three to six months.”

By Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star), Aug 23, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is planning to buy out the stake of the government and other shareholders in the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star), November 28, 2016 MRT-3 is deteriorating faster than ever. When it used to be twice or thrice a week, trains, signaling, and electricity now bog down twice or thrice a day. Commuters are left stranded along rail tracks and inside dead elevators. Hundreds of thousands are imperiled, inconvenienced,…

By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star), October 14, 2016 MRT-3 mis-managers are playing around with the signaling, at the expense of passenger safety. Two incompatible signaling types are being installed. Snags further will deteriorate the commuter rail, and worsen Mega Manila traffic.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) is blaming the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) for the problems of the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) that have resulted in breakdowns and other issues in the operation of the train system.

Would you rather take the bus or the MRT? Why not improve both? Metro Manila’s public rail system, the MRT, is dying. It hasn’t been maintained properly, and now every component – from the rails, to the passenger cars, to the signaling and switching system, even the elevators and escalators in the stations – need…

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is considering borrowing to finance the complete government takeover of the Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3) after the P54-billion allocation for the acquisition of the mass transit system was not included in the P2.6-trillion national budget signed by President Aquino last Dec. 23.

A number of columnists have commented on the maintenance contract of MRT-3, and for good reason. Its maintenance is in disastrous (potentially fatal) condition. I’m not going to apportion blame here as there are two sides to this story, as in any other story. What I’m going to do instead is point out two things…

Here are more bits and pieces from the report of MTR HK on the condition of our MRT 3. Speed restriction of 45kph was currently imposed for safety reason. The growth of passenger capacity in 2015 will increase train loading as well as increase trend of broken rail failure, if no systematic plan to restore…

SAFETY LAST: The Department of Transportation and Communications appears to be compromising public safety while covering up for the poor maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) running on EDSA.

It had been a while since the private owners of MRT 3 commissioned MTR HK to conduct a study on the true state of the system. The study had long been pushed off by DOTC and I suppose they finally agreed to do it only after a series of almost daily accidents happened.

MANILA, Philippines – Transportation officials admitted yesterday that there would be no relief from possible breakdowns for the more than 500,000 daily riders of Metro Rail Transit 3 until late 2015.

News is that Malacañang will rebid the CALAX (Cavite-Laguna Expressway) or do the work itself. This is to avoid howls of favoring any party. Either way, President Noynoy Aquino likely will get the flak.

Is it system-related, a case of poor maintenance, bad management, normal wear and tear, a combination, or all? The series of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) mishaps and glitches since July alone, topped by the Aug. 13 overshooting by a malfunctioning train at the Taft Station that injured 38 passengers, point to the sad…

First of two parts MANILA — The government plans to takeover the most-congested railway system in the country by 2016, an ambitious venture that would pave way for the complete overhaul of the train line.

MANILA – The already long lines at the MRT3 during the morning rush have gotten longer after the government imposed a speed limit on its trains. At around 8:30 a.m., the queue of commuters waiting to enter the North Avenue station has reached all the way down to the street level of Edsa.

The last time I asked DOTC Sec. Jun Abaya when government plans to complete the buyout of the private owners of MRT 3, he texted back: “we are awaiting DOF on the buyout. Hope we can execute within the year.”

A “denial” is not necessarily true; a “clarification” does not always clear things up. So the Letter to the Editor of Transport Sec. Joseph Emilio Abaya on the MRT-3 mess, published in The STAR yesterday, needs rebutting.

The general manager of the government’s Metro Rail Transit-3 gave his uncle-in-law a P517.5-million service deal in 2012-2013. This is revealed in official records, social networks, photographs, and sources’ accounts.

The MRT3 situation has become a national shame, and the waiting passengers’ lines stretch interminably outside the stations from Taft Avenue Pasay to North Avenue Quezon City. To this, Malacanang’s first response was to tell complaining passengers to take the bus instead, if they could not spend a portion of their lives waiting for a…

COMMON TICKET: The use of a common ticket for all MRT and LRT train lines in Metro Manila is a great idea, but its adoption is being delayed as contentious issues surface involving some bidders vying for the ticketing contract.

MANILA – Ever wonder why the MRT3 is so congested especially during rush hour? Well, that’s because ridership has exceeded the train service’s rated capacity by about 60 percent, according to the Metro Rail Transit Authority (MRTA).

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of weary workers risk life and limb riding the MRT each day even as an international transport expert described the depreciated and badly maintained train system “extremely dangerous.”

MANILA, Philippines –   Regular riders of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) are complaining about the bad condition of the rail line, which has made each trip an “obstacle course.”

The Palace should explain President Aquino’s decision to ignore a resolution in the Senate urging him to exercise his prerogative to suspend the implementation of impending price increases in the transport sector, opposition Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

Malacañang rejected yesterday persistent appeals made by members of the Senate for the administration to defer until next year the implementation of its plan to cut its subsidy on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Railway Transit (LRT) Systems and increase fare cost.

THE looming fare hike at the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit (LRT) won’t be sudden, Transportation and Communications Secretary (DOTC) Manuel Roxas 2nd said Wednesday.