THE Transportation department is hoping to expand the capacity of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) and is conducting trials on a train configuration of four cars instead of three.
“The MRT-3 trains in a first-ever four-car configuration are currently undergoing dynamic testing,” the department said in a statement.
The four-car scheme has been contemplated as early as 2010; in a bid document for an MRT-3 capacity expansion project posted on the department’s website, the department said it would work “to increase the line capacity and train capacity of MRT-3 by increasing the train configuration from three-car train configuration to four-car train configuration running at improved headway of not more than 150 seconds during peak hours.”
Completed in July 2000, the MRT-3 carries around 600,000 passengers daily.
It was built by a private consortium, Metro Rail Transit Corp., which was awarded a build, lease and transfer deal in effect for 25 years.
The department is also working on the general overhaul of the MRT-3’s light rail vehicles (LRVs), which is expected to be completed by early next year.
The department has said the general overhaul of the MRT-3 train cars is part of the comprehensive rehabilitation of the rail line along Metro Manila’s main ring road, known as EDSA. It aims to restore the MRT-3 to high-grade design condition.
MRT-3 service providers Sumitomo Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd., and TES Philippines, Inc. have been contracted to overhaul all 72 LRVs.
They were also tasked with replacing mainline tracks, rehabilitate power and overhead catenary systems, upgrade signaling, communications and CCTV systems, and repair all escalators and elevators.
The MRT-3 rehabilitation project has reduced travel time from the North Avenue Station to the Taft Avenue Station to 45 minutes from the previous one hour and 15 minutes, the department noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin
