MRT-3 deploys first 3 Dalian-made LRVs

By Emmie V. Abadilla

At last, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) started deploying new trains from CRRC Dalian to the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) on Sunday (Oct. 28, 2018), after a long audit, adjustment and validation process.

Out of 48 Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs), MRT-3 has deployed three LRVs equivalent to one train set for passenger service after assessment and validation.

The other LRVs are undergoing the assessment and validation procedures and will be gradually deployed once cleared.

TUV Rheinland, an ISO 17020 and 17025 certified German company, conducted Independent Safety Audit and Assessment on 48 Dalian trains delivered between September, 2015 to January, 2017.

The audit addressed issues on weight, signaling and maintenance equipment compatibility.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade asked CRRC Dalian to do these and perform all other identified adjustments at no cost to the government.

As CRRC Dalian started working on the necessary adjustments in July, 2018, Japanese company Toshiba Infrastructure Systems supervised and assessed the process alongside TUV Rheinland.

An MRT-3 Advisory Panel, consisting of railway specialists from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Australia Aid, and local experts from the Philippine National Railways (PNR), also participated in the evaluation and validation.

This development comes at the heels of mobilizing Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as the rehabilitation and maintenance service provider of the 18-year-old MRT-3.

Starting last October 15, a contingent of Sumitomo and MHI engineers have been in the MRT-3 Depot daily for advance transition works.

“Our problem with the MRT-3 is not just the lack of LRVs, which will be solved by the additional Dalian trains. We also have problems with the old trains, the railway tracks. The old signaling systems and others. We have to fix a lot of things,” explained DOTr Undersecretary for Railways TJ Batan.

“For these reasons, we contracted a single-point-of-responsibility service provider, the one who originally designed and built the MRT-3.”

The DOTr expects the Exchange of Notes and Loan Agreement between the Philippines and Japan to be signed early next month, ahead of the upcoming meeting of the Philippines-Japan High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Development in Manila in mid-November.

Apart from an improved and rehabilitated MRT-3, Filipinos can also look forward to other railway projects all over the country, Undersecretary Batan added.

“The MRT-3 is only 17 kilometers long. We are now constructing over 1,500 kilometers of new railways from Luzon to Mindanao, most of which will be completed by 2022.”