Even as light rail authorities are scrambling to test the MRT3 train cars procured from Dalian, China, before having them commissioned into service, another major disruption in the operation of the city commuter train occurred on Tuesday morning due to faults in the brake system and electrical components.
Hundreds of passengers had to disembark and walk along the tracks between the Ortigas and Shaw Boulevard stations at about 7:00 a.m.
Only six trains were on service for the hundreds of thousands of passengers who depend on the MRT.
The Dalian train cars have passed muster by the third-party auditor, TUV Rhineland, on a partial basis, with MRT officials saying at least one more round of tests would be required.
One of the technicalities is that the train cars were discovered to be 3 tons heavier that specified, although Rolf Bieri, the foreign rail technical consultant, explained that, when the load gets distributed to the eight axles underneath, the resulting axle load “will be far away from an overloaded car.”
But transportation expert Rene Santiago pointed out the residual factor of safety considering that, engineering-wise, not all of the tracks have undergone complete inspection and rehabilitation.
