MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Metro Railway Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) management are investigating if the coach detaching incident last Thursday was an act of sabotage.
In a statement, the DOTr said that upon initial investigation, it was found that the Messma Card of the decoupled Light Rail Vehicle No. 68, the third car in Train No. 5, was missing. The card functions like a black box that records all applied interventions in the rapid transit system.
The DOTr said that according to MRT-3 Safety Chief Technician Ruel Jose, who led the initial investigation, “there was no electrical fault, as there was no damage to the mechanical parts of the coupler.”
“Imposibleng magkahiwalay ang coupler kung walang human intervention [It’s impossible for the coupler to detach if there was no human intervention],” Jose said.
Following the results of the initial investigation, the DOTr and the MRT-3 management said they wanted to know the possible “motive” behind the train detachment.
“Who has the capability of removing the black box? Was this an attempt to cover up a mistake on the operation of Train No. 5? Or was there an effort to sabotage the entire operation? . These questions are being addressed right now through proper and scrupulous investigation,” the department added.
Meanwhile, in response to calls to temporarily stop MRT-3’s operation, the department said it wanted the public to know that the DOTr “has been considering this option since the first quarter of this year.”
“But while the DOTr and Secretary Arthur Tugade are aware of the system’s current condition, we must also consider the 500,000 commuters that rely on the MRT-3 system daily,” it said.
Tugade said MRT-3’s technical team had been trying its best to ensure that it was still safe to ride the mass transport system, without disregarding the option to temporarily halt its operation if this would be the right thing to do.
“Basta sa pagsisikap at kasiguruhan ng technical team na ligtas pa rin ang pagsakay sa MRT, tuloy pa rin ang byahe. Bagamat nand’yan pa rin ang option na itigil pansamantala ang operation kung ito na talaga ang nararapat na gawin,” the DOTr chief said.
“The DOTr and the MRT-3 management understand the public’s dismay. We hear you. We are not belittling the magnitude of the problem, but, we assure the public that the maintenance team is doing all it can, and working overtime to ensure the safety of the entire system,” the agency said.
“ The MRT-3 problem is not easy. We acknowledge that it cannot be solved overnight. But, the government is not giving up. The DOTr will not give up. We will do our best until the Filipino people get the service they deserve,” it added.
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