MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) on Thursday announced that the rehabilitation of Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) comfort rooms in the railway system's 13 stations has begun.
"One of the basic necessities of an MRT-3 rider are functioning and decent comfort rooms. Alongside our improvement projects for train operations is this toilet rehabilitation project, which responds to the call of our commuters for better passenger comfort and convenience," DOTC spokesperson Migs Sagcal said.
The rehabilitation project began last Thursday. It is scheduled to be completed by September this year.
The project covers all 63 comfort rooms of the MRT-3 line, and includes tile replacement, installation of new fixtures, ceiling improvements, repainting, electrical and mechanical upgrades, and plumbing and declogging works.
The rehabilitation will be done in phases, starting with comfort rooms for male passengers and persons with disability, which will take around four months to complete. This will be followed by renovations to comfort rooms for female passengers, which will be completed in another three months.
Civil works are now underway at the North Avenue Station, while renovations at other stations will begin in the following weeks.
Meanwhile, the replacement of 150 meters’ worth of worn-out rails was also carried out last weekend – from 9 p.m. on Saturday to 12 p.m. on Sunday – to enhance the train system's operational safety.
More early-close, late-open schedules will follow in the coming weekends to give way to more rail replacement works.