The management of Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 has rescheduled the weekend  suspension of operations  for rail replacement works from August to September to October to November 2020.

The MRT-3 management decided to suspend the weekend suspension upon the recommendation of maintenance provider Sumitomo-MHI-TESP,  due to travel restrictions being imposed by countries to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

From August 8-9, August 21-23, and September 12-13, the suspended weekend operations will be moved to October 10-11, October 31, November 1-2 and November 14-15.

Sumitomo-MHI-TESP assures that this re-scheduling will not affect the target completion of the rail replacement by the end of September 2020, and the increase of train speed to 40kph on October, 50kph by November and 60kph by December 2020.

Rail replacement works to be done during the weekend suspension include turnout works for both the southbound and northbound tracks at North Avenue and Taft Avenue stations. 

Turnouts are used to enable trains to switch from one track to another.

The weekend suspension of operations will also enable Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the service provider for MRT-3’s comprehensive rehabilitation, to perform rail destressing, rerailing, turnouts replacement, resurfacing, rail profile grinding, ballasting and tamping, and other major works for MRT-3’s trains, electrical systems, and other subsystems.

On July 29, MRT3 served 52,708 passengers and recorded an average number of 17 running trains at peak hours, which includes 16 CKD train sets and 1 Dalian train set.