THE insistence of government to continue its fragmented approach in handling the MRT will not solve the train system’s problems. Continuing this piece-wise privatization and hands-off attitude in such a tightly-integrated system is one of the causes of the increasing breakdowns. Engineers from the scientist group AGHAM, Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, calculated that the MRT train line experiences around 3.48 injuries for every 100 million passenger-miles, compared to the US which has 0.7 injuries.

AGHAM also notes that based on the data given by the DOTC, the monthly average of service interruptions has been increasing. In 2013, it was 2.83 interruptions per month, increasing to around 4 as of July 2014 and 4.3 as of June 2015. It was in February, May, and June of this year where glitches occurred nearly on a daily basis, in a span of 2-3 days.

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