TENS of thousands of commuters of Metro Rail Transit Line-3 (MRT-3) have to wait until next year before they could conveniently and safely ride its new trains.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said Tuesday that the monthly delivery of 48 new light rail vehicles (LRVs) for MRT-3 would be in late January next year.
DOTC and MRT officials have just returned from last week’s inspection of the manufacture of 48 LRVs in Dalian, China.
"As reported by the joint DOTC and MRT-3 team, the prototype is on-schedule for delivery in mid-August. The dynamic testing phase will start in November, which is when the prototype’s bogies will arrive," said Transportation and Communication Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.
"In the meantime, we will assemble the prototype and check its components ahead of the dynamic testing. The monthly delivery of three train cars should start in late January 2016," he added.
The project implementation team indicates that the prototype appears to be of good and reliable quality. Better traction motors to incorporate alternating current (AC) technology was used instead of direct current (DC) system presently being used, which means less maintenance needs in the future.
"What is important to us is that the train cars, once delivered, will be safe and reliable. So we prefer to be thorough with the manufacture, assembly, checking, and testing of the prototype," Abaya said.
Meanwhile, the DOTC and the MRT-3 Office denied reports that "excuse letters" may be issued to passengers affected by train glitches.
At most, a copy of relevant incident reports may be released to any requesting member of the general public for whatever useful purposes this may serve, in line with the policy of transparency, DOTC said. (SDR/Sunnex)