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Commuters will get a free MRT-3 ride for more than a month from March 28 to April 30
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This is to celebrate the completion of the line’s P16.53 billion rehabilitation
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The trains will now run twice as fast at 60km per hour
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Passenger capacity has also been doubled to 600,000 daily
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Travel time from North Avenue to Taft Avenue will now take only 45 minutes from the previous 1 hour and 15 minutes
Metro Railway Transit-3 (MRT-3) will offer free rides to the public from March 28 to April 30 to celebrate the completion of its P16.53-billion rehabilitation.
President Rodrigo Duterte on March 22 announced the free rides during inauguration of the rehabilitation project at the Shaw Boulevard station in Mandaluyong City.
Carried out by original maintenance provider Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy-TESP, the rehabilitation has doubled MRT-3’s operating speed to 60km per hour, the Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The interval or headway between trains has also been reduced to 3.5 minutes from 9 minutes.
MRT-3 set a record by deploying the most number of trains in the rail line’s history – a total of 23 trains compared with the previous 10-15.
Moreover, daily passenger capacity has been doubled to 600,000 passengers.
Travel time from North Avenue to Taft Avenue will now take just 45 minutes against the estimated 1 hour and 15 minutes pre-rehabilitation.
The rehabilitation project included the upgraded signalling, communications and CCTV systems, replacement of rails, repair of all station escalators and elevators, and installation of air-conditioning units inside the trains.
In addition, MRT-3’s Control Command Center is now fully renovated with the latest structural upgrades and technological enhancements.
In 2018, the Philippines and Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, signed a ¥38.1 billion (P16.53 billion) loan for the improvement and rehabilitation of MRT-3.
