Safety first

The MRT has been in the news of late. Long queues that seem to go on forever have placed an unwanted burden on its passengers. Something the Palace blames on a growing population. I myself think that there are more patrons of the MRT than before, because of the horrendous traffic on EDSA these days. The trains themselves have broken down on several occasions, causing a cessation of operations. Something the riding public could definitely do without. And let's not forget the controversy hounding the MRT management, where accusations of bribery from the Czech ambassador himself have become public, putting the general manager of the MRT on the defensive. The President himself has ordered an investigation on the allegations.

But in spite of all these, the MRT operations continue. This has prompted the former contractor that handled the maintenance of the MRT to state that the train's tracks are already showing signs of metal fatigue. With the looming upgrade of forty-eight new trains set to arrive in a couple of years, the tracks may no longer be able to handle the stresses of everyday use. He urges the close inspection and monitoring of the tracks before it is too late.

Metals suffer from fatigue. Just like anything else, they also have a shelf life, albeit a longer one. But when they start to show these signs, they have to be quickly addressed. I remember watching an episode of "Seconds from Disaster" on the National Geographic Channel, where they featured a high-speed train accident in Germany in 1998. The high-speed train ran without any incident until that fateful day, when the train derailed near a small town in Germany. One hundred perished in the accident, considered the worst in Germany's rail history and the worst high-speed train accident in the world. More than a hundred were injured. Some homes were even destroyed.

As the investigation progressed, they traced the cause to one of the steel wheels of the train. Hairline fractures developed on the wheel. As the metal started to fail, this caused the train to derail at one of the track switches. That was all it took to cause the deadly accident. Since then, metal fatigue checks are conducted periodically to prevent a repeat of the accident. Airplanes are also grounded after their airframes start showing signs of metal fatigue, rather that risk a crash.

The contractor has also advised beefing up the power supply of the system, especially if new trains are added. The current system may not be adequate to handle the increased load. But the inspection of the tracks should be done as soon as possible. What is lengthening the life of the tracks is that the trains do not run at high speeds. Still, that is no reason to be complacent. That is no reason to wait for an accident to happen, before an inspection is done, as is the usual procedure in this country. We need to learn from the mistakes of the past. An accident involving a derailing of the MRT is just unthinkable. If the whole idea is to improve the service of the MRT, that most definitely includes the safety of the system.