MRT FIX. PCU cards from the Czech Republic were ordered by Sumitomo to replace broken or old PCUs in the MRT-3 system. The MRT-3 management said the new PCU cards will be installed in the Guadalupe station at night on Sept. 23, 2019 with other stations to follow. (Photo courtesy of MRT-3)
MANILA -- The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) on Monday said the new parts of the protection and control unit (PCU) in Guadalupe station will be installed at nightfall for increased safety of passengers and reliability of the system.
MRT-3 chief engineer Oscar Bongon, in a press conference on Thursday (Sept. 19), said the PCU in Guadalupe station was faulty, which eventually resulted in the severed catenary cable of the MRT-3 on Sept. 6 and caused a partial stop in operation of the rail line from morning until early evening.
In a message posted on Facebook, the MRT-3 said the new PCU parts came from the Czech Republic and are needed to avoid system failures in the future.
“Kailangan ang mga PCU upang matiyak na maaasahan ang protection function para maiwasan o ma-eliminate ang system failure (PCUs are necessary to guarantee a reliable protection function to avoid or eliminate system failures),” the MRT-3 said.
The delivered PCU parts consisted of six PCU protection cards, four PCU control cards, and seven PCU power supply cards.
The new PCU parts will be installed not only at the Guadalupe station but also in other stations within the rail line.
“Layon ng bagong maintenance provider na Sumitomo-MHI-TESP (Sumitomo) na palitan ang PCU, hindi lamang sa Guadalupe, kundi sa buong linya ng MRT-3 (The aim of new maintenance provider Sumitomo is to replace the PCU, not only in Guadalupe, but in the entire line of the MRT-3),” the MRT-3 said.
MRT-3 Director Michael Capati, in a press conference last week, said aside from the installation of new PCUs, the rail line performs frequent maintenance of all of its systems to avoid incidents, which cause delay or inconvenience to passengers.
“Marami po tayong preventive maintenance na ginagawa. Meron po tayo (We perform much preventive maintenance works. We have) daily, weekly, monthly -- in fact, last April, we had full maintenance nung (during) Holy Week which took seven days,” Capati said.
During the press conference, which tackled the results of the investigation made by the MRT-3 and Sumitomo on the Guadalupe incident, Bongon said the root cause was an electrical failure that eventually caused the cut catenary cable when a short-circuit occurred.
He added that the incident could have been avoided with a working PCU at the Guadalupe substation. (PNA)
