METRO Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3) will resume limited operations today, Monday, after a week-long shutdown prompted by the infection of 284 station and depot personnel with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The management of MRT-3 stopped the railway’s operations last week after its personnel were confirmed to have contracted the disease — 184 depot workers, 88 station employees composed of 29 MRT-3 personnel, 28 janitorial and 31 security personnel, and 9 train drivers and OCC personnel.
Infected were MRT-3 depot and station personnel and employees of maintenance provider Sumitomo-MHI-TESP and its subcontractors, and other MRT-3 service providers. Those infected have been placed in government quarantine facilities at the World Trade Center, the Philippine Arena, and the PhilSports Arena.
While shutdown, all MRT-3 facilities were thoroughly disinfected, including its depot, stations, and trains.
In a statement released on Sunday, the management said 1,093 depot personnel and 1,010 station personnel tested negative for COVID-19 after they were subjected to mass rapid testing. The added figures exceed the 1,308 number of personnel required to resume train operations on a limited number of train sets.
MRT-3 will dispatch 12 train sets, which will include 10 CKD train sets and 2 Dalian train sets. The first train set will be dispatched at 5:30 a.m. and will run from the North Avenue station to the Taft Avenue station.
Each train can only accommodate 153 passengers, or only 13 percent of its regular capacity, which averaged at 1,182 per train pre-COVID quarantine.
Pursuant to the guidance of Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), all depot and station personnel are required to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks, face shields, gowns and gloves, in order to intensify the protection being given to MRT-3 commuters and employees.
The MRT-3 also ramped up its health and safety measures by implementing the ‘5-minute disinfection hustle’ on its trains every half loop (at the North Avenue and Taft stations).
Personnel health check and monitoring will also observed where employees will be required to submit health declaration forms twice a day.
Meanwhile, the MRT-3 Bus Augmentation Program will continue to deploy 90 buses with a 3-minute fixed dispatching interval.
It will, however, return to normal operating hours, with the first bus departing at 5:30 a.m. and the last bus at 8:00 p.m. from both the North Avenue and Taft Avenue stations.
In addition, 190 buses are being deployed under the EDSA Busway Service to carry passengers between Monumento and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITx). A mini loop will also run between Timog Avenue and Ortigas to serve passengers. Shuttle services or mini buses running in the mini loop will be allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at the curbside.
MMDA
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager Jojo Garcia said work will already resume at their headquarters along EDSA starting today but subject to “new normal” guidelines.
Garcia said there will be a skeletal workforce that will report to the office only during their assigned time schedules.
“They will come to the office by group so that if in case that there will be another incident of COVID-19, the operation of the agency will not be paralyzed just like what happened last week,” Garcia said.
To ensure the safety of its personnel against COVID-19, Garcia said the MMDA has stepped up the enforcement of health protocols within the building, including the temporary ban on personal visits.
Garcia said the MMDA will entertain official and business transactions only.
He said there will be employees who will be working from home, except those involved in the payroll and administrative department who will physically report for work on shifting schedules.
“We ensure the public that all the offices of the agency will have enough people to run so that its operations and transactions will not be delayed,” he added.
Four MMDA employees tested positive of COVID-19 last week, which prompted the agency to close it headquarters for two days. — With Noel Talacay
