THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) has thumbed down proposals to permanently extend the daily operations of the Metro Rail Transit line 3 and Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines 1 and LRT2, saying this will jeopardize the reliability of trains and ultimately, the safety of the riding public.
“We can sacrifice maintenance time for one week. But with the long-term sacrifice of maintenance time, we cannot sacrifice the safety of the riding public,” said DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Jeremy Regino in a statement on Friday.
Partylist group Akbayan has earlier asked the DOTr to extend the operating hours of the three rail systems to midnight to cater to business process outsourcing and night-shift employees.
Regino said extended operations of the rail systems is not feasible as these systems need daily maintenance to ensure reliability and passenger safety.
Last week, DOTr announced the adjustment on the schedule of the three rail systems starting on December 16 to accommodate the anticipated surge of passengers during the holiday rush.
From December 16 to 24, and on December 31, the MRT-3 will begin its first commercial trip from North Avenue station at 4:30 a.m. Between December 16 and 23, the train line will extend its operating hours, with the last commercial train departing North Avenue at 10:34 p.m., and Taft Avenue at 11:08 p.m.
Operations of LRT Line 2, which operates from Antipolo in Rizal to Recto in the city of Manila, will start operations at 5 a.m. on December 17, 23, 24, and 31.
Regular operating hours will be implemented from December 25
to December 30 and from Jan. 1, 2025, onwards.
LRT-1, operated by private consortium Light Rail Manila Corp., (LRMC) and which runs from Dr. Santos Station (formerly Sucat) in Parañaque to the Fernando Poe Jr. Station in Quezon City, will begin its adjusted operating hours on December 20.
The two terminus stations will have their earliest operations on December 20, 23, and December 26 to 27 at 4:30 am.
Their latest operations will be on December 20 and 23, with the last train departing at 10:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. from Dr. Santos and FPJ stations, respectively.
Regino said that unlike regular vehicles, train cars and their system require daily maintenance.
“The wagons and the whole (rail system) need daily maintenance to ensure the reliability and safety,” he said.
For instance, to ensure unimpeded nightly maintenance work, the system requires power shutdowns to guarantee the safety of workers due to the high-voltage powering of the train cars.
