MANILA, Philippines – The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) will suspend operations for 4 weekends from July to September to fast-track rail replacement works, its management said on Tuesday, June 23.

In a statement, the MRT3 management said the suspension will cover the following weekends:

• July 4 to 5
• August 8 to 9
• August 21 to 23
• September 12 to 13

Rail replacement works are scheduled to be done by September, months ahead of the February 2021 target.

“After rail replacement works are completed, train operating speed will gradually increase from 40 kph (kilometers per hour) to 60 kph by December 2020, and headway, or the interval between trains, will gradually decrease to 3.5 minutes,” the MRT3 management said.

The management also said that MRT3 maintenance provider Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will perform major works for the MRT3 trains and electrical systems, among others.

The bus augmentation program will be implemented to cater to the weekend MRT3 passengers.

As of May, maintenance providers had already replaced more than half of the 65,892 linear meters of rail or 55.45% while mass transportation was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Sumitomo-MHI built and designed the MRT3 railway system from 1998 to 2000, and maintained it until 2012. It came back as maintenance provider in July 2018, after the MRT3 experienced a record low of 6 running trains.

Currently, the MRT3 is running on a limited capacity at 13% or 153 passengers per train set due to physical distancing protocols. On average, there are 17 train daily, at least one or two of which are the China-made Dalian trains. – Rappler.com