Metro Rail Transit commuter Angeline Fernando has had her severed arm reattached, and thankfully so, but this is hardly a consolation for the rest of us.
Fernando, 24, had the misfortune of feeling dizzy upon alighting the train at the Ayala station— and then losing her balance and falling into the tracks, her hand getting caught in a train coupler.
The severed arm was left on the tracks for some time, according to another passenger who witnessed the incident. It was fortunate there was a doctor who assisted Fernando until she was brought to the hospital.
The incident caused another service disruption—but of course, passengers are used to such interruptions. The MRT3 gets these as often as several times a day and for a host of reasons.
Just last week, the Secretary of Transportation, Arthur Tugade, exhorted the people to turn to prayers because the rail problems are much to overwhelming. It seems we did not pray enough.
What happened on Tuesday serves as another call to the DoTR that it is not enough to cancel the contract with the service provider or charge transport officials from the previous administration in court. What is the plan, exactly, in the interim, while they are sorting out this mess? Hundreds of thousands of commuters still have to get to their destinations every day.
Fernando’s predicament underscores what is wrong about the MRT. A few weeks ago, a soiled diaper got caught in the wires and caused yet another service disruption. We thought it was a fitting symbol of the state of the rails.
This recent incident, it turns out, is more apt. The volume of people was just too much and there were not enough safety facilities in place. Among others.
Failed public transport systems are only supposed to cause inconvenience, at worst. Ours poses real danger to riders. The tragedy is that people still take the MRT3, anyway, because they really don’t have much of a choice.