DOTr told to address MRT woes as 2018 starts

FILE: Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, said the frequent breakdowns of the MRT-3 in 2017 mean the current train system is already in its “last leg.” (Photo: Grace Poe/ Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to start the year by fixing regular glitches of the Metro Railway Transit-3.

Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, said the frequent breakdowns of the MRT-3 in 2017 mean the current train system is already in its “last leg.”

“The frequent breakdowns of the MRT, especially during the latter part of 2017, only tells us that the current system is already on its last leg,” Poe said.

Poe also stressed that in fixing the problem, extensive overhaul work is needed not just regular maintenance.

“The DOTr should start the year with urgency in addressing this problem that might require extensive repair work rather than just regular maintenance,” the lady senator added.

On January 1, the MRT-3 entered the year with an electrical failure in the train motor, prompting the drop off of passengers at Guadalupe station.

Poe, however, said that extensive repair should not interrupt normal train operations as this would bring ‘greater’ problems to passengers considering that there is no substitute mass transport system.

“But extensive repair might mean the need to put operations on hold, and without an alternative mass transport system to replace it, this would bring commuters greater woes. This is the challenge that the government should solve ASAP,” she said.

“Hopefully, the new year will give the DOTr the chance to start fresh and show us that it is a department that is capable of making better management and engineering choices and not politically driven decisions,” Poe added.

Earlier, the DOTr has released a four-point strategy of “taking bold and strategic steps” to improve the services and to solve the problems troubling the MRT-3.

The four-point strategy includes the termination of MRT-3 service provider Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI), the establishment of the Maintenance Transition Team, contracting a qualified maintenance and rehabilitation service provider Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy, and putting in place a long-term, single-point-of-responsibility, operator and maintenance provider for MRT-3.