Wednesday, August 20, 2014

MRT3 Derailment at Taft Station

DOTC fact-finding team is now analyzing the cause of the mishap at the Metro Rail Transit 3 station on Taft Ave. happened last Wednesday.

The evaluated results are expected to be out by Tuesday next week.

DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said that the two driverrs of the Train 003-B that malfunctioned had to be made available for questioning by the Scene-of-the-Crime Operatives.

The fact-finding team is led by Undersecretary for Operations Edwin Lopez and composed of representatives from the Office of Transportation Security and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).

Abaya declared that the fact-finding team is tasked to find out what happened, make recommendations moving forward to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

The probe will determine if human error or mechanical failure caused the defective train to run past the Taft Ave. station and ram the train stopper and steel barrier fencing the station.

There are two possible causes.

First, It could be due to human error causing procedural lapses or second the hardware or equipment failure. That is what the fact-finding team will determine. Usec. Lopez told Abaya that they can get the investigation through by Tuesday.

No confirmation yet  if the operator of the defective train and the operator of the backup train will be plundered if human error was found to be the main reason for the accident.

While three administration senators are pushing for an investigation on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) accident  that injured at least 38 people. Senator Sonny Angara, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino III.

And on Tuesday, August 20 the MRT3 will run slower for the safety of it's riders.

The MRT3 was built on budget and on schedule And it was fully accepted by foreign experts and the Philippine government in 2000.

In the past, the trains operates with no major accidents for many years under Sumimoto maintenance. Sumimoto and Mitsubishi upgrades maintenance procedures and continues doing it.

Major accidents happened only in the last 2 years under the PHTRAMS-Vitangcol-linked maintenance groups.

Is MRT3 being mismanaged?

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Fault in our Trains

Long lines during rush hour…

Power failure inside the train…

Pickpockets inside…

Overcrowded train stations and more…

Aside from the problems being encountered by commuters in riding the MRT everyday there is a more important matter that they need to know.

At absolutely no cost to the government, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation has offered to refurbish and purchase all-new trains for the MRT3.

But the government has repeatedly ignored this proposal and has pushed an illegal bid-out of the new trains and awarded it to a Chinese heavy trains corporation with the PH government providing the purchase price and a heavy subsidy.

The general manager of the MRT3 have been implicated by the Czech ambassador as making an extortion attempt on a Czech company, Inkeon.

This scandal has been ignored by the press. The illegal awarding of a 500M-maintenance agreement to a company affiliated with the relative of Vitangcol.

Vitangcol resigned from his position.

So who were involved in it's anomalies?

In a post taken from GMA Network News - Metro Rail Transit Line 3 General Manager Al Vitangcol III confirmed that he was relieved by Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya for his alleged involvement in anomalous transactions in connection with the MRT-3 expansion project.

This proposal has repeatedly ignored and has pushed an illegal bid-out of the new trains and awarded it to a Chinese heavy trains corporation with the Philippine government providing the purchase price and a heavy subsidy.

Sadly the illegal awarding of a 500M-maintenance agreement to a company affiliated with the relative of Vitangcol.

The Government could have avoided all the current and potential legal hassles in this MRT3 capacity expansion project had DOTC only abided by the 1999 BLT agreement and allowed MRTC to do its job of choosing the M&O contractor for this EDSA rail line.

What will happen now?

Philippine government wants to take over MRT 3 and Secretary Abaya announced that it would push thru this year.