Traffic congestion in Metro Manila is a nightmare. Quantifying that fact is a study that shows Filipino commuters spend an average of 16 days stuck in traffic every year, representing Php3.5 billion in lost productivity each day.
Making this reality even worse is that alternatives to road transport face similar issues. The region’s rail system, already limited in coverage, is plagued by long queues, extended wait times, and overcrowded trains that make commuting uncomfortable.
In 2014, the former Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) – the precursor to the current Department of Transport (DOTr) – procured 48 light rail vehicles (LRVs) from China’s Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. Ltd. to provide some relief. The Php3.76 billion procurement by the administration of then-President Noynoy Aquino aimed to increase the MRT-3 line’s capacity to serve 800,000 passengers per day.
While these trains were fully delivered by Dalian Locomotive by 2016, they did not serve a single passenger on the MRT-3 line until only last week. So what took them so long?
The Aquino administration would not oversee the delivery of these newly-acquired carriages as it would soon be succeeded by the newly-elected administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Under the latter’s regime these brand-new trains were flagged as being allegedly “overweight” and “incompatible” with the MRT system.
After completion of delivery, the DOTR under the previous administration declared that Dalian Locomotive violated terms of the contract. Among these so-called violations was that the contract specified that the trains should weigh 46.4 tons, only for Dalian to deliver trains weighing 49.7 tons.
Then-Transport Secretary, Jaime Bautista, said at the time that operating the Dalian-made trains “would result in higher maintenance costs and would also result in higher operating costs.” A renowned columnist even lamented that if used, the new railcars will “crush [the] MRT-3’s tracks”.
Other problems identified included the under-chassis of these new trains ill-fitting with the MRT3 tracks, and a signaling system that was incompatible with the MRT’s current system. These myriad of issues gave the Duterte administration enough reasons to delay the roll-out of these newly-acquired railcars, providing no relief to the over-congestion and breakdowns happening on the MRT-3 line.
However, further scrutiny on these Dalian-made trains refuted many of these concerns.
During a Senate hearing on the Dalian Locomotive deal, Rolf Bieri – a consultant for a former maintenance provider of the MRT-3 line – that the capacity of these Dalian trains is meant to be divided by its 8 axles. This means that the axle load for each Dalian train was 9.4 tons, and given the MRT-3 system was designed for a maximum axle-load capacity of 10 tons this means that the newly-acquired trains were well within the weight limit.
Bieri’s assessment was corroborated by an independent audit by Germany’s TUV Rheinland, which found that the 48 Dalian trains can be used “without compromising passenger safety and security.” It also found that the signaling system was “justified to be appropriately safe for use for the MRT operations.”
Despite those findings, Bautista’s successor – Arthur Tugade – kept mum on the report and repeatedly refused to confirm if whether these new railcars were deemed usable or not. Despite repeated pronouncements as well that Dalian Locomotive had violated terms of the procurement contract, the DOTR refused to divulge which terms were violated by the Dalian-made railcars.
The 48 imported railcars were left gathering dust for reasons that would be later debunked. Had they been certified by the DOTR during the six years’ under President Duterte, Filipino commuters would have experienced long-awaited relief from their travel woes much earlier.
Yet that is exactly the problem, had these Dalian trains been made available immediately the public would be grateful to the administration that had the political initiative to procure these railcars in the first place – the Aquino administration.
There was a concerted effort by the Duterte regime to pin down their predecessors in government from the Liberal Party. The 2016 presidential election in particular was a bitter battle between Rodrigo Duterte and the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer, Mar Roxas – who also happened to be secretary of the DOTC under the preceding administration.
That dynamic is what caused the rollout of the Dalian trains to be so delayed, with nearly a decade passing since their delivery. The multi-billion peso procurement sat idle inside a depot for nine years when it could have been servicing struggling Filipino commuters during that time.
Under the incumbent Marcos Jr. administration, these trains are finally doing what they were bought to do – to decongest the hectic MRT-3 line. Filipino commuters will finally be able to reap their benefits at last.
One can’t help but wonder how much productivity was lost during the nine years these railcars sat idle, gathering dust. It’s a painful reminder of how Filipinos can sometimes become their own worst enemies – undermining our own progress over petty disputes.