MRT to open late on Sunday for rail repairs

The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 will open at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, instead of 5:30 a.m., as the glitch-plagued mass transport system will undergo another round of rail replacement works this weekend.

 

"Regular Saturday operating hours will be observed, and the late Sunday opening will be at 10:00 am," the Department of Transportation and Communications said in a statement Thursday.

 

MRT usually opens from 4:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends. 

 

Around 192 meters of rails will be replaced on the northbound tracks between Taft Avenue and Magallanes stations.

 

By June, the DOTC and MRT-3 will receive 7,296 linear meters of brand new steel rails for replacement works later this year – "to better assure the railway’s safety and reliability," according to the department.

 

Meanwhile, three bids were submitted for the procurement of 60 traction motors on Wednesday.

 

"The bids will now be evaluated in accordance with the procurement law. The target award date is in April, in which case the project completion will be in February 2016," the department said.

 

According to the statement, DOTC chief Joseph Emilio Abaya also gave the Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company of China a "firm reminder" of its obligation to deliver the prototype light rail vehicles by the end of August this year.

 

The department is buying 48 new light rail vehicles for MRT from Dalian Locomotive.

 

"The DOTC-MRT-3 project team, which went to Dalian recently, checked the manufacturer’s progress and reported that the schedule being followed is tight," the department said.



However, according to a GMA News "24 Oras" report on Thursday,  the DOTC said Dalian Locomotive has yet to start on the prototypes for the new vehicles.

The blueprint for the coaches will arrive in April and still has to be approved by DOTC-MRT before Dalian Locomotive can start building the coaches.

Abaya said the contract may be canceled and the firm may be asked to pay a penalty if it fails to deliver coaches in August.

"Patuloy silang subaybayan, i-pressure to make sure that they comply with our contracts," the Cabinet official said in the television report.

According to the report, three coaches should be delivered every month to complete the 48 coaches starting October until before the Aquino administration ends in 2016. 

"It's the state who owns the manufacturing plant, malaking kahihiyan ito sa gobyerno nila kung hindi nila magawa," MRT general manager Roman Buenafe said.

 

Next week, the DOTC will ask the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) for authority to do an emergency procurement.

 

"The DOTC hopes that the GPPB will agree that the need for a maintenance provider is indeed an emergency," the statement read.

 

The bidding for the maintenance contract failed twice – once last year and the other last January – as no company took part in the exercise.

 

The MRT maintenance contract held by Autre Porte Technique Global Inc. ends this month. – Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/VS, GMA News