,t s the maintenance, stupid :hen MRT services are inter rupted three times in one week, this could not be due to repetitive human error. That can only be due to lousy maintenance.
RT services are not as frequent ly interrupted by breakdowns, even if their rolling stock is older. This can only mean it is the maintenance of the MRT that is particularly problematic.
The solution is not to slow down the MRT trains, as was done the past few days on orders of those brilliant minds at the DOTC. Slowing down the trains, given that the rolling stock is already depleted, caused the queues to grow longer and the carriages more tightly packed. ife for the commuters just became a lot more hellish than it already was.
Granted, the train that derailed and crashed through the barrier at the Taft station last week was an instance of appallingly stupid human error. The damaged train was not securely coupled to the train pushing it along a downhill segment of the track. The damaged train broke off and free wheeled on the tracks until it hit the restraining barrier.
Preceding that appallingly stupid human error, however, was a mechanical failure. The DOTC report emphasi ed the human error and skirted around the maintenance issue as Riles 1etwork correctly pointed out. :e now know why. The MRT system was maintained for years, with little incident, by Sumitomo Corp. as contractor and Mitsubishi eavy ,ndustries as sub contractor. The contract between Sumitomo and MRTC (the owner of MRT was until . That maintenance contract was e tended twice to October because the new administration was scouting for a new maintenance provider.
1othing was done by then MRT general manager Al 9itangcol for two years. Then, as Sumitomo s e tended contract neared its end, 9itangcol (an appointee of former DOTC Secretary Mar Ro as gave MRTC ten days to procure a new maintenance provider.
Since it was not possible for MRTC to procure a new maintenance provider within the limited time 9itangcol allowed, the company opted to allow the DOTC management to do the procurement suEMect to the Sresentation E of its erms of eference and its aSSroYal E the Eoard
9itangcol never presented the TOR to the MRTC board and never secured the owners approval. ,n stead, 9itangcol cited the emergency presented by the lapse of the Sumitomo contract as e cuse for skipping public bidding for the service provider. A negotiated interim contract (whose terms of reference have not been disclosed was entered into with P Trams.
This negotiated contract has since been a contro versial one. ,ts controversial aspects, however, was eclipsed by claims made by the C ech ambassador of a shakedown attempt made by 9itangcol et al on ,nekon, the original supplier of the trains.
A new contract was subsequently awarded to APT Global despite MRTC s objections on the ground the company was not qualified to provide the required maintenance services.
: hen Sumitomo was maintenance provider, monthly meetings with MRTC were held. P Trams (and then APT Global never held such a meeting, keeping the owners in the dark.
On top of that, the new maintenance providers (for some bi arre reason never disclosed the maintenance log to MRTC. ,f MRTC could not review the logs, nei ther may the riding public.
Over the past two years, each time a breakdown happened at the MRT , MRTC wrote both 9itangcol and DOTC Sec. Abaya asking for a technical audit of the rail system and demanding to see the maintenance logs. 1either 9itangcol nor Abaya allowed the MRTC the courtesy of a reply to those letters.
( asperated, the MRTC wrote President Aquino himself on April , . That letter was written after a train suddenly stopped, injuring many passengers at the Guadalupe station.
The letter disputed 9itangcol s claims that driver error was the cause of the sudden stoppage. Rather, that sort of event is likely due to failure in the signal ing system attributable to incompetent maintenance. Aquino, like his two underlings, did not even bother to reply to the MRTC letter.
,n -anuary , , the DOTC was supposed to have made a presentation to the MRTC board regarding the hiring of a maintenance provider. :ithout even bothering to call up the MRTC, the DOTC officials (led by sec. -ose otilla who were supposed to make the presentation, simply did not appear.
Then the crash at the Taft station happened. Re porting on that incident, Abaya announced e perts from ong .ong will undertake a technical audit. e conveniently forgot to mention that this has been sug gested for two years now by MRTC and will be done at the corporation s e pense.
,n , Metro Pacific offered to buy govern ment holdings in MRTC and run the service itself, including investing in new carriages and upgrad ing the line. That would have saved government the e pense and saved commuters the ha ards of incompetence.
)or the pettiest of reasons (never publicly admitted , that offer was rejected.