Crippled MRT coach cleared from Pasay City crash site

The Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) coach that crashed after running through a safety barrier at the MRT Taft Avenus station in Pasay City Wednesday was finally cleared from the area before dawn Friday.

 

Crews from the MRT and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority started work on the removal of the coach at 11:45 p.m. Thursday and removed the last section before 4 a.m., radio dzBB reported.

 

At least two cranes were used in lifting parts of the coach from the area. Two of the coach sections were loaded to a flatbed truck and a 10-wheeler truck while the third was towed by a maintenance truck.

 

Light Rail Transit Authority spokesman Hernando Cabrera said the sections of the disabled coach would be brought to the MRT depot in Quezon City.

 

The coach crashed after going out of control and breaching a safety barrier at the Taft Avenue station in Pasay City. The crash and resulting debris injured nearly 40 people.

 

On Thursday, the crashed coach still slowed traffic in the area as motorists and some pedestrians slowed down to take a closer look at it.

 

Photos posted by GMA News' Victoria Tulad and radio dzBB's James Agustin showed the sections of the disabled MRT coach removed.

The MMDA used two cranes to remove two of the sections.

Cabrera posted a photo of the third section of the MRT3 coach "re-railed and hauled from the crash site by a Unimog utility truck."

Cabrera also posted on Twitter photos of a replacement buffer stop for the Taft station. — Joel Locsin/ELR, GMA News