The Department of Transportation said it is on track to restore Metro Rail Transit Line 3 to its original, high-grade design state by July 2021.
Transportation Undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan said the 26-month rehabilitation of MRT3 by Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy was ahead of schedule.
“We are three months advance,” he said.
Batan said the agency planned to increase the number of trains running from 15 to 20, speed up the train speed from 30 kilometers per hour to 60 kph and lower the headway to 3.5 minutes from 7.5 minutes “by July 2021 if not earlier.”
He said that by July next year, the MRT capacity would also increase to 600,000 passengers per day from the current 300,000 passengers a day.
The rail replacement works for the whole stretch of the MRT 3 mainline started in November 2019 and was expected to be completed by February 2021. Rail replacement works can only be done during the evening non-operating hours.