MANILA – Starting Tuesday, the Metro Rail Transit Line (MRT-3) will be temporarily shut down to allow all of its personnel to undergo testing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
In a statement on Monday, the MRT-3 said the decision was made by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) following the increasing number of personnel who tested positive for Covid-19.
“The temporary shutdown will be undertaken to give way to RT-PCR (swab) testing of all MRT-3 personnel, including those of its maintenance provider and subcontractors,” the MRT-3 said.
The duration of the shutdown, it said, will initially be five days or until Saturday (July 11), or until swab tests confirm that enough workers are not infected with the disease.
“The period of the shutdown may be shortened or extended, depending on the pace and results of RT-PCR testing. This also means that operations will resume even if the number of available personnel can only operate a limited number of train sets at the beginning,” the MRT-3 said.
Out of its 3,200 personnel, the MRT-3 said it will require at least 1,300 workers to be able to resume limited operations.
“Those who are confirmed negative will form part of the pool that will operate the system upon resumption of operations,” the MRT-3 said.
The testing for its personnel will be done by the Philippine Coast Guard at the Palacio de Manila swabbing center with assistance from the Philippine Red Cross.
Meanwhile, it said MRT-3 workers who will be found positive will be confined at an “appropriate government quarantine facility”.
During the temporary shutdown, it said thorough disinfection of all MRT-3 facilities will be conducted which will include its depot, stations, and trains.
While its trains will be out of commission, it said the MRT-3 Bus Augmentation program will continue with 90 buses which will be dispatched at a constant headway of three minutes.
Moreover, “150 buses will be deployed for the EDSA Busway service, carrying passengers between Monumento and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange,” the MRT-3 said.
A mini loop, it said, will also run between Timog Avenue and Ortigas composed of shuttle services and mini-buses that will pick up and drop off passengers.
'Minimal or no contact with passengers'
In a virtual presser, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque floated the possibility of the DOTr devising a policy to require all MRT-3 personnel to undergo Covid-19 testing before they resume work.
“Magagawa naman ito sa rapid test (This can be done via rapid antibody test),” he said.
He said despite some MRT-3 staff testing positive for Covid-19, majority of them may have had minimal or no contact with passengers.
“Sa tingin ko po, kung ang mga nagkasakit naman ay hindi nakakahalubilo sa mga pasahero (I think that those who got infected do not interact with passengers). It’s a matter of disinfecting the MRTs,” he said.
He also expressed hope that once the MRT-3’s technical operations are addressed, it can resume operating at a 50-percent capacity.
On Thursday, the MRT-3 said it will have fewer trains running this week after 127 of its workers tested positive for Covid-19—all of which were located at the MRT-3 depot in North Avenue, EDSA, and were not part of the rail service’s frontline service.
It added that of this total, 124 are employees of Sumitomo-Mitsubishi heavy Industries — the MRT-3’s maintenance partner — and three are employees of the MRT-3. (with reports from Azer Parrocha/PNA)
