LRT bans talking inside trains

MANILA, Philippines — No talking please.

For two weeks now, the LRT-1 management has been encouraging its passengers to refrain from talking inside the trains to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In an advisory, the LRT management told passengers that “talking is not allowed on the train.”

“COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets,” it explained.

Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health (DOH) have warned that when a person infected with COVID-19 “talks, sneezes or coughs,” droplets come out from the mouth and nose, which could be inhaled by another person.

The LRT-1 management urged commuters riding the trains to “avoid talking to other passengers inside the train,” wear face masks and rub their hands with alcohol.

Jacqueline Gorospe, corporate communications head of Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), which operates the LRT-1, in an interview with dzBB yesterday also advised passengers to refrain from answering phone calls inside the train.

But if the phone call was a “life and death situation,” she reminded them to wear face masks when talking.

So far, the LRMC has recorded only eight active cases of COVID-19 among its employees, all of them currently in quarantine, Gorospe noted.

The Philippine National Railways has also implemented a similar measure, wherein passengers riding a particular train coach are obliged not to talk to other passengers and train crew, wear both face mask and face shield and refrain from using gadgets while inside the train.

The measures aim to increase the carrying capacity of their train sets while enforcing health and safety protocols, PNR management said.