Trash halts MRT operations for 2 hours

MANILA, Philippines - Operations of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) along EDSA were suspended for two hours yesterday morning after an unidentified person threw a plastic bag filled with trash along the rail tracks between Magallanes and Taft Avenue stations.

Renato San Jose, officer-in-charge of MRT-3, said the mass transit system started partial operation between North Avenue and Shaw Boulevard stations at around 9:55 a.m.

San Jose said they decided to stop the MRT operations as power had to be cut in order to remove the trash that was stuck at the train’s railings.

Full operation resumed at noon yesterday.

San Jose said a passerby could have thrown the trash from the pedestrian overpass near Evangelista street.

He appealed to passing pedestrians not to throw garbage on the rail tracks so as not to affect the MRT operations.

A defective MRT train overshot the Taft Avenue station’s platform, injuring at least 36 passengers last Aug. 13.

Massive breakdowns caused by broken rail, defective signaling system, among others, have been hampering the mass transit system.The Department of Transportation and Communications has lined up 10 projects amounting to P11 billion to improve the MRT-3, which ferries close to 600,000 passengers per day.