Commuters who oftentimes spend 8 to 9.5 minutes or more waiting for the next MRT-3 train to arrive will just need to wait around 3.5 to 4 minutes as the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) boosted its train operating speed to 60 kilometers per hour on Monday.
As a result of rail replacement works in the rail line, which was completed in September this year, several months ahead of its scheduled completion in February 2021, from the previous 1 hour and 15 minutes, the travel time from North Avenue station to Taft Avenue will be shortened to only 50 minutes.
The MRT train speed improvements are attributable to MRT-3’s massive rehabilitation program, which is being implemented by its maintenance provider Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Japan.
Furthermore, since MRT-3 embarked on said massive rehabilitation project, the rail line had been gradually increasing its train operating speed.
In October and November, the speed of MRT-3 trains rapidly increased from 30kph to 50kph.
Moreover, the MRT-3 trains can now travel from North Avenue station to Shaw Boulevard station (both bounds) with a speed of 60kph, and from Shaw Boulevard station to Taft Avenue station (both bounds) with a speed of 55kph.
“The increase in train speed will provide our passengers a safer, faster, and more reliable public transportation. This is a significant accomplishment for the Department of Transportation (DOTr), headed by Sec. Arthur P. Tugade, and for the MRT-3 that aims to bring better performance and a brighter future for the passengers,” said MRT-3 Director for Operations Michael Capati.
“During the first week of December, we have been performing test runs to ascertain the alignment and safety of railway tracks. We are targeting to increase the train operating speed to 60kph in the entire revenue line before this year ends when all system checks have been performed to ensure compliance to safety standards,” Capati added.
The last time the MRT-3 was able to run at 60kph was in September 2013.