LRTA hopes to repair pesky glitches during Holy Week break

Following several disruptions that inconvenienced riders in past weeks, authorities hope to finally repair the pesky glitches in the Light and Metro Rail Transit systems during the Holy Week. On Monday, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) spokesman Hernando Cabrera said they have a long maintenance period ahead, from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. "Napansin natin lately maraming nangyaring aberya. So kumuha kami ng mahabang maintenance period para maayos ito (We noticed so many glitches occurring lately so we hope to take full advantage of this long maintenance period to address the problems)," Cabrera said in an interview on dzRH radio. He noted that the MRT will stop operations from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, while the last trains of the LRT Lines 1 and 2 will operate at 8 p.m. An advisory on the LRTA website had indicated that the last LRT-1 trains will leave Baclaran terminal and Roosevelt Station at 8 p.m. Wednesday; and the last LRT-2 trains to leave Santolan and Recto stations also at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Cabrera said the LRT-1 and 2 and the MRT systems will all resume operations on Monday. In past weeks, passengers riding the LRT-1 and MRT were inconvenienced following a series of glitches, including a smoking brake pad and a faulty door sensor. But Cabrera said the most common cause of the problems so far had been a faulty door sensor in the first-generation LRT-1 trains, which he said prevented the trains from moving. He said the faulty sensors would send a wrong signal to the computer, which in turn would not give the train the green light to leave the station. "In more recent cases, the door sensors were misaligned. They would then send the wrong signal to the computer and prevent it from allowing the train to leave the station. That has been our problem lately," he said in Filipino. — RSJ, GMA News