Government risks safety of commuters with takeover of LRT 1

Government may be putting at risk the lives and safety of at least 350,000 people commuting daily via the Light Rail Transit (LRT) after it decided to take over the maintenance of Line 1 from Baclaran to Monumento beginning May 16 without adequate preparation and the necessary expertise.

The STAR learned that the LRT Authority (LRTA) decided to no longer tap the services of the contractor that has been undertaking the maintenance of Line 1 for the last three years until a new group shall have been chosen by July 1. LRTA is scheduled to conduct a bidding for maintenance services for Line 1.

A group of LRTA technical employees has written Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza requesting for a determination by an independent body of LRTA’s actual technical capability and manpower to take over maintenance functions for LRT Line 1. Mendoza is also the chairman of the LRTA board.

In their letter, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, the employees said the scheduled takeover of maintenance unduly risks not only their professional careers as engineers, but more importantly the lives of LRT commuters. "If such is the plan of the board, we are up to the challenge, but there should be proper preparation for such undertaking," they said.

They said that LRTA can maintain the system, but only with a minimum period of eight months under a phased transition program. "Even under gradual transition, we expect efficiency to drop by 20 to 30 percent as a result of adjustments," it was emphasized.

Unfortunately, they pointed out that for this scheduled takeover, no maintenance plan or program has been presented, nor have they met with the technicians who they are supposed to supervise. The STAR learned that after LRT management informed the Belgian contractor Transurb-Technirail (TNR) that its services would no longer be required, LRTA has been recruiting and ‘pirating’ the contractor’s Filipino technicians.

According to the LRTA employees, the agency is not prepared at this time to take over Line 1 maintenance. "To overcome this lack of preparation, the takeover’s success is premised on the transfer of current key personnel of Technirail to the LRT maintenance team. If even half of these personnel refuse to immediately sign up with LRTA, maintenance will surely be compromised," they said.

The STAR learned that since the LRTA takeover of Line 1’s maintenance depends on the recruitment of TNR’s maintenance team, the former is allegedly resorting to strong-arm tactics to pirate the latter’s engineers and technicians. TNR took over the system in July 2000.

The employees added that while they usually follow instructions however vague and illogical they may be, in this case, they will only do so if assured that responsibility for any resulting mishap or damage during the interim period will be properly credited to the movers of the takeover bid.

It was also revealed that LRT management never planned to take over maintenance for Line 1 because otherwise, it would have included takeover activities (budget, personnel recruitment and training, phased transition) in the plans for 2003.

"This aggressiveness and decision of top management to risk the safety and convenience of LRT commuters should be coupled with the accountability of the prime movers. We do not wish to be a party to management adventures that could lead to mishaps or serious damage to expensive government equipment," they stressed.

LRT Line 1 uses rail vehicles of mixed make and age, but the core system is 18 years old and thus depends on a constant maintenance level, experts say. Being antiquated, it continues to run on the same level of service only though some conversions and adaptation of parts by the experienced engineers and technicians who have serviced the system for some 10 to 18 years.

Experts interviewed added that takeover by a new maintenance contractor already familiar with the technology in Line 1 will require a learning curve of not less than six months to have specific knowledge of system peculiarities. In the case of LRTA, since its creation in 1981, it has not undertaken the recruitment or hands-on training of a complement staff to take responsibility for Line 1 maintenance.

The safety of 350,000 commuters depends on the competence of the operators who are confident that the equipment they are driving and the tracks and related facilities have been inspected and released with minimum risk.