MANILA, Philippines – Managers of China-based Dalian said on Thursday, April 19, they are “confident” their trains will pass the audit conducted by German-based TUV Rheinland, and are fit for Metro Manila’s Metro Rail Transit line. 

In a media interview, Li Depu said the testing was done again in Manila in response to the request of the Philippine government. 

“We are confident that the trains will pass the weight test, as it did in China,” Li said.

During the Senate hearing on the MRT3 in February, an expert said the 48 Dalian trains were “not overweight” and within the allowable limit that the MRT3 tracks could carry.

The Department of Transportation earlier said the Dalian trains were above the total weight required by its contract. The DOTr specified that each train should weigh 46.4 tons, but the trains delivered weigh 49.7 tons.

During the test on Thursday, a total of 1,464 sand bags were loaded per train car, each bag weighing 17.5 kg. This is equivalent to some 394 people per train car, within the train’s crush capacity of 8 persons per square meter.

DOTr said the maximum allowable weight per axle should be at 10 tons.

Asked whether the load is within the limit, Railway Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said they would wait for the full audit report by May.

The DOTr will then decide if the trains should be used by the MRT3, Batan said. 

The MRT3 recently reached a new high of 17 trains running at a time. Back in February, the number of trains went down to as few as 6.

It now services an average of 330,000 passengers per day, an improvement from the previous low of 230,000 average daily ridership sometime in February. – Rappler.com