WHILE refusing to release the full audit report for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade insisted that the “technical adjustments” for the 48 train cars delivered by CRRC Dalian Co. of China should be shouldered by the supplier.
On Sunday Tugade issued a general statement calling on Dalian to pay for the technical adjustments for the light rail vehicles that it delivered to the government, citing an independent audit report released by TUV Rheinland.
“The audit report shows that the trains delivered to us fall short based on standards. In relation to the details of the terms of reference, upon which the bid was awarded, there are variations on measurements and weight,” he said.
Tugade explained that, based on the audit report, the Dalian trains can still be used if the adjustments identified in the audit are addressed.
“If you thoroughly review the evaluation, it somehow says that, with the right fix, we can still use the trains without sacrificing the safety, security and life of the passengers of the system,” he said.
He said the work needed to be done on the Dalian trains may be characterized as “manageable.”
“We want Dalian to absorb the costs of fixing the trains,” Tugade said.
Aly V. Narvaez, a spokesmanfor the MRT 3, said the adjustments involve incompatibility issues
previously cited by experts.
“The technical adjustments that should be done pertain to the noncompliance [with] the terms of reference, which cover certain incompatibility issues, such as the weight, and certain measurements relative to the technical specifications of the trains as mentioned in the releases we sent,” she said.
Despite raising the issue, the transportation department continued to refuse to release the full report to the public.
Transportation Director Goddes Hope O. Libiran explained that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) refusal stems from its intention to allow government-to-government arrangements to commence first so as not to “preempt high-level discussions.”
Tugade said “details on how CRRC Dalian will make the adjustments identified in the TUV Rheinland independent audit [are] targeted to be finalized before a high-level government-to-government meeting between the Philippines and China [on] August 20.”
The government tapped TUV Rheinland to conduct a thorough review of the trains procured from Dalian, as issues ranging from weight to safety arose before, during, and after their complete delivery in February last year.
To recall, the the Aquino administration jump-started the acquisition of 48 new train cars for the Edsa line. It faced several years of delay due to a legal tussle with the owner of the train facility, MRT Corp.’s parent company, MRT Holdings Inc.
Despite having received the first set of trains in early-2016, the deployment of the new coaches was deferred because all 48 light-rail vehicles had to be “optimized and tested.”
Onboard signaling was amiss from the train, and was only procured midway through the construction of the 48 train units.
The onboard signaling system was only installed on the trains in November 2016. The initial batch of trains should have been deployed in March of the same year, based on original targets.
Due to these problems, the DOTr wanted to deploy the 48 trains in March 2017, but failed to do so after groups raised issues on the train’s weight.
The whole expansion project, amounting to P3.8 billion, will increase the capacity of the line to 880,000 daily passengers, or 66 percent more than the current capacity of 350,000 commuters per day.