MANILA, PIA- Metro Railway Transit- 3 (MRT-3) operations will close early this Saturday, February 28, and open late on Sunday, March 1, to give way to rail replacement works, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) announced yesterday.
“As part of our promise to improve and rehabilitate the MRT-3 system, we will conduct the first of a series of rail replacement works over the coming weekend. We are doing this to enhance safety and minimize glitches, and we chose this schedule to mitigate inconveniences to the riding public,” Secretary of Transportation Jun Abaya said.
“Operations will be closed from 9: 00 pm this Saturday until 12:00 pm on Sunday. We will use 150 meters’ worth of stabling rails from the depot to replace the more critical portions of the mainline between Taft Avenue and Magallanes,” MRT-3 General Manager Roman Buenafe explained.
Stabling rails are the end-portion of the tracks located within the MRT-3 depot, and are intended to be used as parking facilities for light rail vehicles (LRVs), which are not in use. LRVs run on the stabling rails at less than five kilometers per hour (5kph) until they come to a full stop, without any passengers on board. Meanwhile, LRVs carrying passengers run on the mainline rails that need to be replaced at speeds ranging from 15 to 40 kph.
“Since safety is my priority, this solution is very clear and simple to me. I proposed to switch the worn-out mainline rails with the stabling rails in the interest of MRT-3 passengers,” Buenafe added.
The DOTC and MRT-3 will calculate how many more early-close; late-open weekends will be implemented in the coming months based on the time-and-motion study to be conducted during the actual works this weekend.
“We will firm up our schedule after this weekend and announce it to the public. In the meantime, we would like to reassure our riders that government is taking the necessary steps to rehabilitate and improve the MRT,” Abaya stated.
Meanwhile, the transport agencies will also receive the recently procured 7,296 linear meters’ worth of brand new steel rails by June 2015. These will be used for further rail replacement works later this year to better ensure the railway’s safety and reliability. (dotc.gov.ph)
