'Walang linya sa mundo na 'di nagkakaroon ng aberya,' MRT GM says amid complaints

With glitches hampering the Metro Rail Transit operations one after the other the past few days, MRT General Manager Rodolfo Garcia said, "Walang linya sa buong mundo na hindi nagkakaroon ng aberya," a report on Unang Balita by Chino Gaston on Thursday said.

Garcia said this as commuters complained about the glitches this week.

On Monday, smoke came out of a southbound train, later determined to be caused by the overheating of an axle near the Magallanes Station.

Personnel had to take out something from the rails on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, there was a problem with the doors of a southbound train at the Boni Station.

However, the MRT trains, rails, and electrical system underwent maintenance checkups a week ago, during the Holy Week.

Garcia said they have increased their reaction time to fix the problems.

"In order to improve our time reaction dito sa mga aberya, nag-increase ang Busan (Busan Universal Rail, Inc. or BURI) from two to five patrol teams and this is augmented by our engineers here at MRT 3. Kaya kung ma-no-notice ninyo mas mabilis ang pagsagot namin sa mga aberya," he said.

The Department of Transportation has a three-year maintenance contract for the MRT 3 with the joint venture of Busan Transportation Corporation, Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile, Inc., TMICorp Inc., and Castan Corporation.

The maintenance provider, however, said the intense summer heat is one of the causes of the MRT problems.

"The directive of MRT 3 now is for us to locate or identify a higher grade of grease which may fit to the kind of weather in the Philippines," Eugene Rapanut, managing director of BURI, said.

Deo Manalo, officer-in-charge and chief of operations of MRT 3, said the new trains from China have yet to be used.

"Under this administration, signaling was fixed, 'yung power was awarded. It will be finished by end of the year," he said.

The DOTr is also looking for a new contractor who can supply additional rails and other items needed by the MRT 3 system. —KG, GMA News