MRT consortium eyes purchase of additional trains

Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) is eyeing the acquisition of more trains for the railway system that runs along the entire stretch of EDSA, a move intended to ensure better train maintenance and the safety of the riding public.

The MRTC consortium, which operates the MRT-3 railway system, consists mainly of the Fil-Estate Group, Anglo-Philippine Holdings Corp., Railco Investments, Sheridan LRT Holdings and DBH Inc., which together hold 77 percent of total stock.

Fil-Estate chairman Robert John Sobrepeña said the consortium’s priority at this time is the purchase of additional trains, rather than bidding for the second phase of the MRT-3. He said the MRT needs about 24 to 48 more trains as its ridership has already reached its full capacity 400,000 a day.

Sobrepeña said that there are even days when the MRT carries as much as 480,000 passengers a day.

"We already made a letter to the Department of Transportation and Communications. The government is studying it now. We are worried about the maintenance and availability of the trains," Sobrepeña said.

He said the government can "order the trains themselves or the MRTC can order it with them."

MRT-3 general manager Roberto Lastimoso said earlier that the railway system currently earns an average of P120 million a month, which is still not enough to cover its monthly debt servicing and operating expenses.

The MRT consortium had sought a meeting with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other concerned government agencies to discuss measures to adopt in fasttracking the development of the second phase of the railway project, which would extend the railway from North Avenue to Monumento and connecting with the light railway transit plying the Monumento-Baclaran route.

The DOTC had ruled that Phase 2 of the MRT-3 project should be subjected to a Swiss challenge or a bidding process. A Swiss challenge is a mechanism that allows other interested entities to submit offers that are better than that of the original proponent. The current operator, however, is allowed to adjust its proposal to beat that of the lowest bidder.

But the MRTC said it should be allowed to build the extension of the MRT-3 because this was part of the supplemental agreement it had entered into with the DOTC in 1999.

The DOJ however, came out with a ruling that the supplemental agreement entered by the MRTC and DOTC for the construction of the extension project had already lapsed. For this reason, the MRT Phase 2 project had to be subject to another public bidding.