MRT cars need overhaul and tracks, replacement — DoTr Usec

AN OFFICIAL of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that all train coaches of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) have been long overdue for a general overhaul, and that the tracks too need to be replaced.

“The overhaul was supposed to be due last 2016… So, the whole fleet is really overdue for overhaul,” Undersecretary for Rails Timothy John Batan said at the hearing by the Senate committee on public services on the problems hounding the MRT-3.

Mr. Batan said the train coaches were supposed to be overhauled every eight years. The last time this procedure was undertaken, he said, was 2007 to 2009.

He added that the previous maintenance provider, Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI), was required to overhaul 43 of 72 train coaches as part of its contract with the government.

“When the government took over, they should have completed 26 according to (the) general overhaul schedule. But they only finished three,” he said.

Mr. Batan also identified the many issues which caused frequent disruptions and fewer operating trains, describing the condition of the busiest train system as being in a “really deteriorating state.”

He said the railway system has experienced maintenance difficulties because of a series of short-term contracts with maintenance providers which hampered them from making the necessary investments for properly maintaining the system.

He also pointed out that some components, such as the signaling system, were being reconditioned instead of being replaced, which affected the trains’ reliability.

“Even though it was reconditioned, it would still work but not as reliable as it would have been if we replaced them with new spare parts,” he said.