The Metro Rail Transit management suspended the train’s entire operation for more than two hours on Saturday afternoon following “technical difficulties.”
Commuters who piled up at major stations in Taft Avenue, Cubao and North Avenue got angry after station personnel failed to explain the reason for the railway’s suspension of operation.
MRT station personnel posted a sign that read “Temporarily No Operation Due to Technical Problem” around 3 p.m.
But passengers said MRT personnel refused to give the timeframe for the repair of the technical problem.
“The guards are useless and the ticket window tellers have attitudes,” said passenger Don Santos.
The MRT management has yet to release an official statement about the incident at press time but some personnel said they were informed that the “railway system’s main line encountered troubles.”
There were reports that all stations resumed operation around 5:30 p.m.
This was the second time the MRT-3 encountered technical glitches this month.
During the morning rush hour of Sept. 7, the train operation was disrupted due to a defective door. The disappointed and irate passengers were forced to take buses and taxicabs along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue after a southbound train made a sudden stop at the Santolan Station in Quezon City around 7 a.m.
Five months ago, the MRT management was also forced to stop serving North Avenue in Quezon City to Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City because of a plastic material that was thrown into an electricity cable at the Ortigas Avenue Station. The management then appealed to the public not to throw garbage on the tracks to avoid disrupting the train system’s operations.
In November 2014, the mass transit was also suspended for two hours after an unidentified person threw a plastic bag filled with trash along the rail tracks between Magallanes and Taft Avenue stations. The management said a passerby could have thrown the trash from the pedestrian overpass near Evangelista Street.
The Department of Transportation and Communications has lined up 10 projects worth P11 billion to improve the MRT-3, which ferries close to 600,000 passengers daily.
The MRT-3 line serving 13 stations commences at North Avenue and ends at Taft Avenue, traversing the cities that Epifanio de los Santos Avenue passes through Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay.
It started its operation in 1999 as the country’s second rapid transit line in Metro Manila. It formed part of the rail transport infrastructure, including the Manila Light Rail Transit System composed of two lines—the LRT-1 and MRT-2, and the Metro Commuter Line of the Philippine National Railways.