Maintenance

Whenever we board the MRT-3, we are never really sure the trains will take us to where we want to go.

The past few weeks, the rail line appears to have broken down even more frequently, forcing passengers to walk down to the congested road they tried to avoid in the first place. As it always happens, the DOTr blames the maintenance provider while the latter blames the dilapidated system – plus the fact that the provider has not been paid for nine months.

There are a thousand things that could go wrong with this badly executed system, which is an elevated tram and not really a light rail. And often they do. 

The data shows that the breakdowns began nearly as soon as the commuter rail line was opened in 2000. Now we are told the rails should be replaced. The constant bouncing the trains experience worsens the functionality of their electronic components.

Now the current service provider tells us the signaling system, supplied by the Canadian firm Bombardier, was wrong from the start. It causes sudden braking and frequent trip interruptions.

There is disagreement over who should pay for replacing the rails and procuring a more adequate signaling system. The DOTr says it should be the responsibility of the maintenance provider. The maintenance provider, in turn, says contract is limited to exactly what it says: maintenance provision. It is not paid to make capital investments in a faulty system – investments that could run into many billions.

Last week, the Senate public services committee conducted a public hearing on the problems besetting the MRT-3. That hearing featured former DOTC secretary Jun Abaya and the current service provider, Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI).

Remember Jun Abaya? He was the official responsible for quickly putting in place the LRT-1 extension and finding a service provider for the MRT-3. A few years ago, he contracted Chinese company Dalian to supply new trains to replace the battered rolling stock of the MRT-3. Then he kept assuring the public the train deliveries were coming and relief is in sight.

All the Dalian trains have indeed been delivered, but they are not running. Dalian, it turns out, was not a light rail manufacturer. The trains they delivered had no motors and no signaling system. Now we are told we might be waiting as long as three more years for the Dalian trains to actually run.

The contract with Dalian says the trains ought to be tested at the factory before they are delivered. That, obviously, could not be done. The trains had no motors. At the moment, they are merely decorative. All they do is to congest the depot, crowding out the old trains that actually run (sometimes).

Abaya is also the guy responsible for having the mountings built for the LRT-2 extension to Antipolo. But those magnificent edifices have neither rail nor commuter stations. This expensive project remains entirely decorative.

All we learned from Abaya during the last hearing was that the large contracts relating to the MRT-3 were cut during Mar Roxas’ time as DOTC secretary. All he did was to sign the contracts with his eyes closed.

During the midterm elections campaign of 2013, former president Noynoy Aquino promised the people of Cavite, whose votes he was wooing, that he and Abaya would have themselves run over by a train if the LRT-1 extension is not built in two years. They did not deliver on the promise either. The two, to our chagrin, continue to be alive and well – and still parrying blame for all their incompetence.

Abaya once dismissed the traffic problems we endure daily as not being fatal. There are enough motorists who would want nothing more than to prove him wrong by hanging him from the unused LRT-2 extension beams, just to show how fatal his incompetence could be.

During that same Senate hearing, BURI fought off attempts to make them the scapegoat for all the problems plaguing the MRT-3 line. They quoted the contract they hold with the DOTr. According to that contract, the key result the maintenance provider is committed to deliver is to rehabilitate all of the old trains and keep them in service.

BURI claims to have over-performed its end of the bargain. It has put 91% of the old trains back into service. When they took over, only 13 trains were functioning. The contract calls for the deployment of no less than 12 trains in the first 10 months. During that time, 22 trains were put back in service. By the end of the year, BURI expects all of the original fleet of trains pressed into service.

BURI claims there is a dark motive to the fact that the company has not been paid for nine months now. There is an effort to financially squeeze the company until it walks away exasperated. That opens a door for another group intent on bagging the contract.

BURI likewise blames DOTr undersecretary Cesar Chavez for the delay in bidding out the contract for the replacement of the faulty rails. The rails forced the trains to move slower in order to avoid further damage. Chavez head the bids and awards committee.

The Dalian trains are beyond BURI’s scope of work. Those bright new trains could actually end up in some kiddie park somewhere, a monument to a regime of incompetence.

Meanwhile, we the commuters can only curse. We have no other choice.