MRT back to full ops but delays expected

More than an hour after a glitch cut short its operations, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) went back to full operations shortly after noon Thursday. But Light Rail Transit Authority spokesman Hernando Cabrera said commuters may still experience slight delays from the trains in the next few hours. "Okay na, naibalik na natin at around 12:16 (The MRT is okay again. We restored full operations at about 12:16 p.m.)," Cabrera said in an interview on dzBB radio. But he said there may be some delays, even as the LRTA holds an investigation into what happened. Cabrera initially said a malfunction in the signaling system forced them to cut the MRT's operations between Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City and Taft Avenue in Pasay City. The glitch forced the suspension of operations between North Avenue in Quezon City and Shaw Boulevard. But Cabrera said it was better that "automatic sensors" prevented the trains from proceeding than to let the trains continue and wander into an opposite track. Citing initial investigation, Cabrera said the glitch occurred at 10:49 a.m., and the half-line operations were implemented at 11:09 a.m. Meanwhile, a separate report on dzBB said the glitch caused traffic to slow down along the southbound part of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). Several commuters who were not aware of the MRT's glitch were stranded and had to get down to the streets, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported. — KBK, GMA News