Maintenance provider blames glitches on MRT design, quality

MANILA, Philippines - The design and quality of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 are to blame for the glitches that interrupt the rail line’s operations, MRT-3 maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) said yesterday.

“Serious issues with the system’s design and quality should be considered relative to train reliability, as they directly affect the system’s current performance and further aggravate the system’s already deteriorating condition,” BURI said in its letter to the Commission on Audit dated July 20 after the COA questioned the firm’s performance as the rail line’s maintenance provider.

BURI said “even diligent and regular preventive and corrective maintenance cannot completely eliminate glitches brought about by design and quality issues.”

According to BURI, 1,492 glitches were recorded in 2000, the first year of operations of the MRT-3.

By 2008, the glitches reached 1,927, and in 2009 it rose to 2,199.

In its report on the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the COA said the MRT-3 encountered 2,619 train removals, 63 service interruptions and 586 incidents of passenger unloading last year, registering respective increases of 19.81 percent, 26 percent and 163.96 percent compared to 2014.

In its report, COA also said BURI’s delivery rate in the overhauling of 43 old light rail vehicles and total replacement of the signaling system remained at only 5.74 percent and 6.85 percent, respectively, one year after implementation.

BURI attributed delays to the challenge in sourcing obsolete components. As for the total replacement of the signaling system, BURI legal counsel Redentor Roque warned that DOTr, even if it “pursues termination through convenience,” should still pay for the goods and services BURI has procured “despite the non-completion or termination of the project.”  

BURI – a joint venture of Busan Transport Corp., which is owned by the Korean city government of Busan; and local companies Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMI Corp. and Castan Corp. – assumed the MRT-3’s maintenance in January last year.