A temporary shutdown

Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya is proposing for a temporary shutdown of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT).

According to records obtained by News5 via Interaksyon, six of the 16.9-kilometer rapid transit system needs to be replaced immediately because it is already old and defective.

In case there will be a train system shutdown what will be its cause to the public.

Why it is not totally good at all?

1. It may not be good because the first option for the commuters is to ride the buses. Despite having the MRT, traffic situation is still a big problem everyday.

2. With the 550,000 passengers who ride the train everyday, buses are not enough to service the commuters!

3. DOTC has extended the one-year maintenance contract of Autre Potre Technique Global Inc. that expired on Sept. 5. The maintenance contract is among the close to P10-billion projects being undertaken by the DOTC to improve the operations and decongest the MRT-3. 

The biggest is the P3.76-billion MRT-3 capacity expansion project, involving the acquisition of 48 brand new trains that was awarded to CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. of China to increase its capacity by 66 percent to 800,000 per day.

4. President Aquino has failed to implement the solution the TESP (TES Philippines Inc., which has been the maintenance operator of the Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (MRT-3) since 2000. ) said the only solution to prevent such collapse is an immediate supply of an additional fleet of trains and upgrade the electrical and electronic systems supporting it.

The operations have been blocked by  breakdowns due to broken rails, failure in communications system and floods as well. On Aug. 13, a train crashed the Taft Avenue station hitting a concrete barrier, injuring at least 36 passengers.

Records show that the DoTC received three proposal in 2004, 2008 and 2010 to buy additional trains.

Sobrepeña revealed that MRTC tried four times to buy new trains for the mass rail system as early as 2004, but DOTC never acted on the proposal.

Sumitomo Corp. designed, built and maintained the MRT3 system under the principle of a single point of responsibility which supposedly meant that the Japanese firm guaranteed 20 trains running at any given point in time.

DOTC is giving interested bidders for the P2.2-billion maintenance contract of MRT-3 more time to prepare their proposals.

Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco issued General Bid Bulletin 06-2014 postponing the submission and opening of bids to Oct. 28 instead of Oct. 17.

Abaya said that the government has decided to bid out a longer maintenance contract, as the current one-year contract is too short.

DOTC extended the one-year maintenance contract of Autre Potre Technique Global Inc. that expired on Sept. 5.

The government terminated the contract with Sumitomo in 2012 and it was a big factor to the MRT failures.

The DOTC effectively lost the single point of responsibility.