MRT train checks set until next week

MANILA, Philippines -  The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) will undergo safety checks until Sunday or Monday morning, an official said yesterday.

MRT-3 director for operations Deo Manalo said the trains have to undergo security checks after a strange sound was discovered in one of the trains.

The rail line also reduced the speed of the trains from 40 kilometers per hour to 20 kph.

Transportation Undersecretary for Rail Cesar Chavez said there was a need to check the trains after one of them made a strange sound and wiggled at around 7 p.m. Tuesday, ABS-CBN reported.

An axle of the bogey system under the train driver’s coach was broken, he said.

Chavez said officials are working overtime to finish the inspection so that the number of operational trains would be back to 20 during peak hours and 15 during non-peak hours.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has provided free rides and lifted the number coding scheme for selected city buses plying EDSA during yesterday morning’s rush hour.

Noemi Recio, head of the MMDA’s traffic engineering center, said they deployed four six-by-six trucks, two buses and some coasters to the southbound side of the MRT-3’s Quezon Avenue and North Avenue stations, where hundreds of commuters lined up to get a ride.

Recio said that they deployed more than 500 traffic enforcers to EDSA alone to help ease the flow of traffic.