The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to complete the Metro Rail Transit line 3’s (MRT-3) rehabilitation by July 2021 which will increase the train’s capacity and operating speed.
TJ Batan, DOTr undersecretary, said Sumitomo, which handles the maintenance of MRT-3, is speeding up the rehabilitation of the train system and is currently three months ahead of schedule.
Thus by July 2021, MRT-3’s operating trains are expected to increase from 15 train sets during peak hours to 20 trains, thereby improving the train capacity from the current 300,000 per day to 600,000 passengers per day.
The train speed is also expected to double from 30 kilometers per hour to 60 kph, reducing by half the waiting time from 7-10 minutes to just 3.5 minutes.
In May last year, the government turned over the rehabilitation and maintenance of MRT-3 to the group of Sumitomo Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and its subsidiary TES
Philippines (TESP) which will be for a period of 43 months.
Under the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Project, Sumitomo-MHI-TESP will overhaul all of MRT-3’s 72 light rail vehicles; replace all mainline tracks; rehabilitate power and overhead catenary systems; upgrade signaling, communications and CCTV systems; and fix all of MRT-3’s escalators and elevators; among other system repairs and improvements.
As the original designer, builder and maintenance provider of the MRT-3 for 12 years, Sumitomo-MHI-TESP brings with it an extensive track record in railway engineering, construction and maintenance, and is best fit for the challenging task of restoring MRT-3 to its design condition.
Meanwhile, Batan said DOTr is currently negotiating with Sumitomo to include the maintenance of the Dalian trains, which will be deployed once the rail replacement works are completed by next year.
Last October, one Dalian train set (equivalent to three train coaches) was deployed in the MRT-3 mainline during evening off-peak hours, after Sumitomo gave consent for the limited deployment of the Dalian train set.
This consent indicates that the train set will be deployed for an initial trial period lasting up to when the maintenance provider begins its rail replacement works in November 2019.
Last year, three Dalian trains sets have completed the necessary commissioning and validation tests including the 150-hour run.
