MANILA, Philippines – Spare parts for the rehabilitation of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) train cars arrived starting Tuesday, February 13, the MRT3 management announced.

Deliveries are expected to arrive until Friday according to the train management. These will be used to rehabilitate worn-out components of the 18-year-old train system.

Among the suppliers were Pink Armour Corporation, Linkers Enterprises, and Nikka Trading.

Since 2018 started, the MRT3 suffered a total of 34 glitches – 22 of which involved electrical failure in the train’s motor. (READ: MRT3 suffers almost daily breakdowns since start of 2018)

The spare parts delivered on Tuesday will address electrical, mechanical, and signalling problems. The MRT3 train system is scheduled to be fully rehabilitated between March 28 and 31. (READ: DOTr promises better MRT3 services by 2nd quarter of 2018)

On average, there were only 8 to 9 trains running per day in February, way below the agency’s set minimum of 15 working trains per day. (READ: Surviving MRT3: Worst train fails in 2017)

In 2017, there were 516 MRT3 glitches recorded – almost 10 incidents a week. (READ: MRT woes: How often do they happen?)

Transportation officials rejected calls for a temporary suspension of MRT3 operations until all glitches could be fixed, saying this would only cause great inconvenience to commuters. Instead, operating hours and trains were reduced for maintenance checks. – Rappler.com