428 rail line personnel get COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Rail lines will resume operations on a limited basis starting today as their personnel undergo mass testing since more than 400 have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said mass testing for its railways sector started as early as March 29 and 428 personnel have tested positive so far: 136 for the Light Rail Transit Line 2, 107 for Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), 94 for LRT-1 and 91 for the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

DOTr Undersecretary for rails TJ Batan said the agency expects the mass testing to be completed by the middle of this week.

Batan said the MRT-3, LRT-1 and LRT-2 would resume operations on a limited basis today after the Holy Week break while the PNR would resume operations on April 9 to give way to the ongoing mass testing due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the past weeks.

This means that the rail lines will deploy fewer trains. Passenger capacities of each rail line would remain at 20 percent to 30 percent.

“We will maintain the 20 to 30 percent capacity for each train that we announced last week and we will implement during the first week of the ongoing (enhanced community quarantine or) ECQ. What will be changed is the number of trains that will be dispatched as we will have to make it suitable to the number of available personnel for each line,” Batan said.

The MRT-3 will dispatch 10 to 12 trains, compared to its average of 18 to 20.

The LRT-1 will dispatch 17 trains from its average of 24 during weekdays while the LRT-2 will try its best to deploy its usual five trains.

The PNR, meanwhile, targets to dispatch nine to 10 train sets, or at least 55 trips per day, once it resumes operations on Friday, compared to its previous average of 11 to 12 train sets and 60 trips per day.

The DOTr said commuters who would be affected by the limited operations of the railways will be served by augmenting buses.

“Our railway lines have bus routes assigned to them. For example for LRT-1, there is Route 1, for LRT-2 Route 9, MRT-3 there is the EDSA Carousel. For the EDSA Carousel, based on our meeting with the road sector, we will have 350 buses to cater to the possible capacity requirement because of the reduced number of trains that will be in operations for the MRT-3,” Batan said.

“The same with LRT-2 and LRT-1, we are coordinating with the operators of the bus routes to add more buses,” he added.

DOTr Assistant Secretary Goddes Libiran said the limited operations of railways would continue until the mass testing is complete.

The DOTr railways sector said it would enforce strict health measures in all of the facilities and trains of the MRT-3, LRT-1 and LRT-2 to stem the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of both rail personnel and passengers.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has ordered that all rail sector personnel who are considered as active COVID-19 cases and those who are still waiting for their test results be kept in isolation and not be allowed to enter trains or rail facilities.

Also barred from entering rail facilities are their close contacts who had been identified after contact tracing as well as those exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.

“We should not compromise the health, safety and security of the traveling public and our working people. That is a non-negotiable position,” Tugade said.