Glitches stop MRT-3 trains 8 times in past week

MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) was forced to stop its trains at least eight times last week by a series of still undetermined technical problems, based on its status updates on the website dotcmrt3.gov.ph.

The 30-year-old rail line reported two technical problems on Monday at the Magallanes and Guadalupe stations in Makati, both incidents forcing commuters to get off the affected trains. 

The incident at Magallanes lasted from around 9:28 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. while the Guadalupe glitch occurred at around 4:15 p.m. and lasted five minutes.

On Tuesday, a technical problem halted the operation of the MRT-3 from Santolan-Annapolis to Cubao stations at around 6:12 a.m.

The rail line had to limit trips at around 6:20 a.m. from Shaw Boulevard to Taft Avenue stations. The provisional service was lifted around 30 minutes later and the MRT-3’s operation returned to normal.

Another technical problem forced the commuters to get off the affected train at the Quezon Avenue station at around 12:39 p.m. Normal operation resumed at around 12:43 p.m. 

On Wednesday, technical problems forced commuters to get off the trains at around 9:25 a.m. at the Boni Avenue station and at around 5:52 p.m. at the Guadalupe station. Normal operation resumed within seven minutes in each incident.

Two glitches inconvenienced commuters on Thursday at around 1:55 p.m. at the Santolan-Annapolis station and at around 9:34 p.m. at the Cubao station. Operation returned to normal within six minutes.

The MRT-3, however, said “all systems were operational” on Friday. 

Yesterday, two technical problems inconvenienced commuters at the Ayala Avenue and Buendia stations. 

The first technical problem was recorded at around 7:14 a.m. and the second glitch at around 3:19 p.m. In each instance, normal operation resumed within minutes.