Maintenance

Last week, an escalator serving the MRT broke down. Shortly after, a train stalled after an apparent electrical malfunction that emitted smoke. Some passengers were slightly injured in the panic.

The matter should have been left for the DOTC, which operates the MRT, to explain. But the incident is apparently important enough for the Palace to talk about. Maybe because there are too many people in the “communications group”, there is a propensity to talk on everything. Add that to President Aquino’s own propensity to comment on everything, treating all concerns with equal national import.

Commenting on the MRT mishaps, Palace spokesperson Abigail Valte said maintenance of this key transport facility will improve after fares are hiked. She shouldn’t have said that. It struck many as a cheap attempt to justify the impending fare adjustments.

Someone should offer the “communications group” a seminar on how not to say more than is necessary.

 It is the responsibility of the MRT’s operator (in this case, the DOTC) to ensure that this public facility is properly maintained, independent of what the prevailing fare level is. Precisely because it is run by a government agency, public safety must be an utmost concern. This is the rule for all operators of public facilities, public or private.

In the specific case of the MRT, there is a maintenance contract awarded to ensure the proper upkeep of the facility. We do not need a fare increase to enforce the terms of that contract. If they do not do their part of the bargain, their contract will not be renewed. That is how the world works.

Too, if the contract is expensive and the fares are low, then government simply subsidizes maintenance of the facility — as it has been doing all these years. The safety of the facility ought to not be calibrated according to the level of fares paid. There is absolutely no justification for putting the safety of the commuting public at risk.

Valte should not have linked the level of safety of the facility with the level of fares collected. There was no need for her to do so. But because she did, this government’s attention to the needs of public safety becomes suspect.

I served on the board of the MRT and I am quite familiar with the operational issues this facility needs to deal with.

In deference to the incoming administration, we agreed then to merely extend the existing service contracts for six months rather than renew these contracts. We did this as a courtesy to the new team that would come in, on the possibility they might have new ideas about dealing with the issues.

Six months, we thought then, must be more than enough for the new team to settle in, sort out the issues and make the necessary decisions on the service contracts and the procurement of additional capacity. I do not know now if the new people in charge responded to the problems plaguing this facility with the sense of urgency required.

I did not expect the escalators to bog down or the electrical wiring to burn on the rail cars. I do know of a few urgent safety concerns that require immediate attention.

To begin with, the MRT now carries double the number of passengers the system was originally designed to handle. That, by itself, sounds like unsafe practice allowed to persist.

In order to reduce the congestion on the rail cars, new cars need to be procured. The original MRT fleet was purchased from a Czech company whose plant seems to operate only when orders are placed for the things they manufacture. Buying from the same suppliers now seems unwise. The new cars are too expensive. It is like putting Porsches in rails.

The stations are designed to accommodate a four-car train. We currently use only three-car trains.

We need to buy more cars to both lengthen the train and increase frequency in order to reduce congestion. But this was never done by the previous owners until the day the government financial institutions bought out the bonds and took over management of the MRTC. Now, the issue is whether the banks will shell out more cash to buy the rail cars or government will provide for them. I am sure everyone neglected inserting an item in the new budget to spend for new MRT capacity.

LRT1, which has always been publicly owned and operated, actually has spare rail cars available that run well on the MRT line. For some reason, probably bureaucratic turf protection, no decision has been taken to deploy the extra LRT1 cars on the MRT route. Doing so will drastically reduce congestion and improve safety.

The existing MRT rail cars have seriously eroded wheels. That is the reason the cars sway left to right as the train moves on the tracks. These wheels, although they are not cheap, need immediate replacement. I have serious nightmares about an overloaded train falling on its side at the highest point at the Edsa-Ortigas junction, where the track curves dangerously astride the flyover.

I am not sure if the new management has taken the decision to replace those dangerous wheels. I hope they have. Most likely, considering how nothing seems to move under the present dispensation, they have not. If they have not, the DOTC needs to issue a safety advisory to the riding public, explaining why the trains mimic ships in stormy waters.

If Valte wants to talk about the MRT, considering the impending fare adjustments, she should tell us how quickly and decisively the safety issues have been addressed. If they have not been addressed, it is her responsibility to tell the riding public about the hazards of taking the trains.