DOTr: No basis for safety claims of lawmaker, MRT 3 employees
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Sunday disputed claims that the Metro Manila Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) has become unsafe, as alleged by the train line’s employees’ association and the freshman party list congressman who is championing the union’s claims.
“Now that the price of crude oil is rising, commuters and vehicle owners should be encouraged to use our rail lines to save on fuel. Now is not the time for politics. The severe crisis facing the entire world is no joke, so we should help the people, especially the commuters,” the DOTr said in a statement.
“The DOTr assures the public that MRT-3 remains safe for all passengers, contrary to their claim that it is not safe to ride the rail line’s four-car trains,” the statement read in Filipino, referring to the CRRC Dalian trains that the MRT Corp. bought from China.
The department said all the line’s trains underwent and passed international technical evaluations and most have been in use since 2016.
The DOTr also asserted that the signaling system for the railways “can support four-car trains that run from North Avenue to Taft Avenue” and that too passed the assessment of French rail engineering company Systra, which is involved with two rail lines in France.
The ongoing MRT 3 controversy seems to be more connected to the threat of MRT 3 general manager Michael Capati to cancel the contracts of some members of the MRT-3 Employees’ Association.
Labor or safety issue
The association contends that the train line was made unsafe when Capati allowed the use of four-car trains in addition to the older three-car trains.
The employees assert that Capati’s decision has made the train line “unsafe” although they have not responded to the DOTr’s arguments that the trains and the system underwent international certification.
The employees enlisted the support of Kamanggagawa Rep. Elijah San Fernando, who accused Capati of starting a signature campaign to retract their previous complaints.
“If what you are saying is true, why is GM Capati intimidating and coercing the workers who signed the signature campaign to retract or their contracts will not be renewed,” said the congressman, who stressed that the issue was the use of four-car trains.
Employees claimed MRT 3 has been running six four-car trains every weekday, even though “the signaling systems were not built for the four-car trains.”
The employees also claimed that the newly procured Dalian trains are not yet ready because of undertrained drivers.
