15 MRT3 trains up and running post-Holy Week break —DOTr official
Fifteen trains of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) are now up and running after a five-day general maintenance work during the Holy Week break, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) official said Monday.
Each train has a three-car configuration.
With more trains running, the DOTr hopes to see shorter lines of passengers at the stations—especially during peak hours.
“This will partially address the problem of long queues, but there will still be some lines,” said Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan.
The last time the mass rail transit system operated with 15 trains was on Jan. 5, 2018.
The 15 trains with three cars each can serve around 405,000 passengers a day, DOTr data showed.
The next target is to increase the number of trains running to 20 during peak hours, with the new maintenance service provider now working on the system, the DOTr noted.
This could raise the number of passengers to being served by the MRT3 to 540,000 per day.
The highest number of MRT3 passengers on record was 622,880 in August 2012.
But even if the target of 20-train, thee-car configuration is reached, passenger queues are still expected, Batan noted.
Because the number of MRT3 commuters continues to increase, the DOTr is working on a more ambitious target of increasing the number of cars per train.
“To finally address queues, we need to achieve our later targets of 20 trains of 4-car configuration which can carry 720,000 passengers per day, and eventually 25 trains with 4 cars each set which can carry 900,000 passengers per day,” Batan said.
While the management hopes to achieve its more ambitious goals at the soonest possible time, it would depend on the possibility of using the Dalian Trains which are reportedly not compatible with the MRT3 system.
“The path and timing towards these targets will depend on the outcome of the TUV Rheinland audit of the Dalian trains. So long as we keep moving forward towards 25-by-4 operating trains, that’s progress that little by little our MRT3 riders will feel,” Batan said. —VDS, GMA News