The government sees a 33 percent increase in the passenger capacity of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 as soon as new light rail vehicles (LRV) are appended to the existing three-car train sets that run daily along the perennially crowded and busy Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (ESDA).
Outgoing Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II yesterday disclosed the detailed plan to increase the passenger capacity of MRT 3 after the National Economic Development Authority, which the President chairs, approved the purchase of 52 new LRVs under the P8.6 billion MRT 3 Capacity Extension Project.
In an interview over GMA 7’s “News To Go,” Roxas said that only 20 sets of three-car trains are currently operating at the MRT 3, while 12 train cars are presently grounded for maintenance.
“We will spend about P7 billion to bid out additional train sets so that these three-car train sets will become sets of four coaches,” he said.
Once the additional train cars are appended to the existing fleet, Roxas said there would be a 33 percent increase in the MRT 3’s capacity. At present, the mass transit line serves a daily ridership of 500,000 despite the design capacity of 350,000 passengers only.
“Kita naman natin punong-puno, siksikan na parang sardinas ang mga kababayan natin diyan. Pumapatak na kasi about 500,000 people a day ang gumagamit ng MRT 3. Ang original design component niyan ay na sa 350,000 lamang,” said Roxas, incoming Secretary of Interior and Local Government.
Although government’s direction is to bid out the purchase of the train cars, opening the contract to various train manufacturers aside from the supplier of the existing MRT 3 fleet, ČKD (now part of Siemens AG) of the Czech Republic, may cause compatibility issues between the old and new fleet.
A well-placed source in the Transportation sector said awarding the contract to a bidder other than the original manufacturer will have to prompt government to group the new LRVs and create stand alone sets, similar to Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1’s second and third generation train cars.
“But government also has the option to negotiate with the manufacturer of the original rolling stocks to prevent compatibility issues to arise. This negotiation is in fact recognized as ‘legal’ by law,” the source said.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), however, has not yet set the timetable for the bidding of the project.
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Source: Kris Bayos, Manila Bulletin. (10 September 2012)
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