DOTC to buy new coaches for MRT-3; Chinese is possible supplier

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said Wednesday that it will purchase brand-new coaches for the Metro Rail Transit-3 expansion project.

During the bid submission and opening for the P3.769 billion MRT-3 capacity expansion project, DOTC spokesman Migs Sagcal said the government is now looking at buying new coaches rather than acquire second-hand trains from Spain.

"We looked at our options for purchasing some of the coaches from Metro de Madrid, but it turns out that this would not have significantly improved the timeframe we are working on," Sagcal said.

"So we decided to continue with the ongoing procurement of new trains instead. This should also result in lower maintenance costs," he added.

He said two Chinese companies participated in yesterday’s bidding process-- Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. CNR Group and CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd.
CSR Zhuzhou was declared ineligible by DOTC's Bids and Awards Committee due to its failure to submit a certificate of reciprocity and to comply with a technical requirement.  As a result, its financial proposal was no longer opened.

Meanwhile, having been found to have satisfied the project’s eligibility requirements, Dalian Locomotive’s financial proposal was revealed to be in the amount of P3.759 billion.
"The BAC will now conduct a detailed evaluation of Dalian Locomotive’s financial proposal, followed by post-qualification exercises. As for CSR Zhuzhou, the BAC had no choice but to declare it ineligible in line with the non-discretionary pass/fail criteria of the Procurement Law," Sagcal said.

The DOTC said the MRT-3 expansion project aims to add 48 light rail vehicles to MRT-3's current fleet of 73 to decongest the system’s overcrowded service by allowing more cars to operate at a faster interval rate during peak hours.

From the present three-minute intervals of three-car LRVs, the additional trains will allow 2.5-minute intervals of four-car LRVs, the DOTC added.