The Transport Department said on Monday a new MRT train would be made operational by the end of the first quarter this year.
“Commuters will experience increased passenger convenience and service reliability with the arrival of more new LRVs. If the evaluation of the first set is found to be satisfactory, we are expecting one new train to be operational by the end of this quarter,” Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said.
Once the necessary check on the electrical components is completed within the week, the vehicle will undergo dynamic testing to ensure the reliability of parts. A 5,000-kilometer test run will be done on the main line during non-revenue hours.
Abaya said the second of 48 light rail vehicles for the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 system was already assembled and set to be tested this month.
He added that two more LRVs will be delivered by February, and then four more LRVs will be shipped from March until January 2017.
“With mobility a priority to the DoTC, we are hoping to provide more available trains to the riding public through the 48 additional LRVs—an improvement that should have been done by the system’s private owner, Metro Rail Transit Corp., in the mid-2000s— in addition to system upgrades and better maintenance works,” Abaya added.
The 48 new LRVs are part of the DOTC-MRT3 capacity expansion project, which will substantially ease the MRT-3 system’s congestion by boosting system capacity to over 800,000 daily passengers.
Earlier, the Transport Department signed a P3.8 billion three-year contract with Joint Venture of Busan Transportation Corporation, Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile, Inc., TMICorp Inc., and Castan Corporation to undertake maintenance works of the rolling stock and signaling system, the most critical maintenance discipline of MRT 3.
Twelve qualified technical experts, including rolling stock, signaling, and track specialists, from Busan are already carrying out the necessary activities for transition and system assessment.
MRT 3, which runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serves more than 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.