LRTA reassures passengers: LRT, MRT safe

A day after yet another mishap disrupted the operations of the Metro Rail Transit, the Light Rail Transit Authority sought Tuesday to reassure passengers of the safety of its trains. LRTA spokesman Hernando Cabrera said they have been conducting continuous inspections of the trains, even as he branded Monday's incident an isolated case. "Ligtas naman lahat ng ating tren, dumadaan sa inspection ito bago umakyat sa linya. Ang nangyari (noong Lunes), isolated incident (Our trains are still safe. They are inspected before being deployed. What happened Monday was an isolated incident)," Cabrera said in an interview on dzBB radio. Several passengers of the MRT-3 had to walk along the elevated tracks early Monday after one of the three cars in an MRT train broke off. [See: MRT-3 stalls again, passengers forced to walk on elevated tracks] The incident occurred while the MRT train was heading south from Quezon Avenue to the GMA-Kamuning station. Cabrera said their initial inspection showed no visible defect, but they suspect a coupler linking the cars together may have caused the car to break off. "Visually walang makitang defect. Ang ginawa kahapon tinanggal ito at pinalitan ng iba para maibalik sa serbisyo ang bagon (Visually we saw no defect. But we replaced the coupler so the affected car may be used again)," he said. If the coupler is defective, he said they may have to buy a substitute part from Korea, China or Japan. He also said they continue to regularly inspect the cars used in the LRT and MRT systems. On the other hand, Cabrera allayed fears passengers in the affected car may have gotten hurt, saying all MRT cars have emergency brake systems. "Safe ang ating mga tren (All our trains are safe)," he said. — RSJ, GMA News