Advocate: MRT trains ‘five times more deadly’ than counterparts

MRT-3 train (Wikipedia photo)

MANILA – Science and Technology of the People advocate Archie Orillosa claimed that the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) trains are ‘five times more deadly’ compared to the foreign countries’ trains.

Orillosa’s statement stemmed from AGHAM’s record from the news and on the MRT’s website from 2013 to 2015.

According to their tally in 2013, for every 100 million passenger-miles of the MRT, around 3.48 injuries occur.

Comparing it to the United States 2003 to 2008 FTA data, for every 100 million passenger-miles of their trains, only 0.7 injuries occur. Hence, MRT’s record is 2.78 more.

“This was made to compare the same age of the US trains and the MRT,” Orillosa said.

Although the records were conducted in different time periods, Orilloso asserted that the trains were both 15 to 16 years old by the time the records were taken. He added that the lack of maintenance resulted to the unstable MRT trians with frequent glitches ‘for the past two years.’

APT Global spokesperson Bing Zaide, on the other hand, stressed that the MRT trains needed more than maintenance; they needed to be rehabilitated.

“There is already a need to rehabilitate the system,” he said.

Aside from comparing it to the US trains, AGHAM had also looked into metro rail systems of other countries.

They found out that the Philippines has the least railways compared to foreign cities Beijing, Berlin, London, Seoul and Tokyo.