COA: P3.7 billion Dalian trains remain idle

MANILA, Philippines — Forty-eight light rail vehicles (LRVs) amounting to P3.759 billion procured by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) from a Chinese company in 2014 supposedly to expand the capacity of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) remain unoperational, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its 2022 annual audit report on the DOTr, the COA said the transport agency entered into a deal with Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. of China (now known as the China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. Dalian Co. Ltd.) on Jan. 24, 2014 for the supply and delivery of LRVs under the MRT-3 Capacity Expansion (CAPEX) projects.

Under the contract, the delivery of the LRVs was to be carried out from Feb. 26, 2014 to Jan. 20, 2017.

The contract was part of the CAPEX projects, which aim to expand the MRT-3 capacity to 800,000 passengers per day.

The COA noted that as of end-2022, only nine out of the 48 LRVs had been provisionally accepted from Dalian pending their overhaul and final inspection. The 39 other LRVs have yet to undergo testing and commissioning.

State auditors said of the nine provisionally accepted LRVs, two still need wheel truing and were therefore assessed as “non-functional.”

“The Dalian trains procured eight years ago remain idle and not operational due to non-completion of the proposed way-forward plan as well as the testing, commissioning and final acceptance of the LRVs, thereby depriving the riding public of the benefits of a more comfortable transportation system,” the audit report read.