THE full rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit-3 will be completed in 2021, an official said Sunday.
Transport Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan told dzBB radio they expected the rehabilitation to be finished by the first quarter of that year.
“The full rehabilitation will be completed by 2021, Batan said.
He said Friday MRT-3 would be restored to its high-grade infrastructure status, and that part of its rehabilitation would include the commissioning of the Chinese-made Dalian train sets which were now being tested, Batan said.
He said due to the long and multiple testing of the new trains, only one Dalian train set with three wagons could operate for now. The other train sets were still being queued for testing.
“Ang dahilan kung bakit isang train set [ng Dalian train] pa lang napapatakbo natin ay dahil tatlong bagon pa lang ang nakakatapos sa mahabang listahan ng testing and commissioning procedures,” Batan said.
“Isang buong train set ng Dalian train na binubuo ng tatlong bagon. ‘Yan ay kasalukuyang dumaraan sa gradual deployment at pinapatakbo natin tuwing off peak hours at saka natin titingnan kung pwede natin iakyat during peak hours.”
Batan said that the new trains should undergo multiple testing to ensure their safety.
The Transport department on Saturday assured the public that there would be no increase in the fares for the MRT3 even if the railway system was poised to undergo a total rehabilitation.
“Ang instruction diyan namin ni [Transport] Secretary [Arthur] Tugade ay hindi pa namin pinag-iisipan yung pagtaas ng pamasahe hanggang sa maramdaman ng mga pasahero natin yung improvement sa serbisyo sa MRT 3,” Batan said.