DOTr announces suspension of rail services on Holy Week

With the Holy Week just around the corner, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has released an announcement that rail services will be suspended during the said holidays. According to DOTr, the said move is to make way for the trains’ annual maintenance check.

The yearly maintenance will allow for smoother operations

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The Metro Rail Transit’s (MRT-3) suspension of services will start from March 30 to April 4. The Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) meanwhile, will remain operational on March 29 and 30, but will temporarily cease operations starting on March 31 until April 4. Likewise, the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) will also suspend its operations from March 31 to April 4. 

For the PNR trains, their operations will be suspended from April 1 to April 3. The Calamba – Tutuban route however, will remain in operation on April 1.

Most PNR routes will remain suspended on April 4. The Naga – Sisipot, Tutuban– Alabang, Tutuban– Calamba, Tutuban–Gov. Pascual, Gov. Pascual–Bicutan, however, will resume operations at this date. The DOTr says that all PNR routes will resume their operations on April 5, 2021.

For those unaware, the Holy Week culminates on Easter Sunday. Maundy Thursday (April 1) and Good Friday (April 2) are regular holidays. Meanwhile, Black Saturday (April 3) is a special non-working holiday. 

The Big but sleek trains of the PNR

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As mentioned, many components of the PNR, LRT, and MRT will be undergoing maintenance and repairs. According to a post by the official DOTr MRT-3 page, the maintenance operations specific to their line includes point machine and turnout replacements, as well as the addition of CCTV-units.

The turnouts to be replaced are the ones on depots. These devices are used for trains to transfer from one track to another. On the other hand, the point machine is used to control the aforementioned turnouts. No doubt, these are crucial to the operations of a railway. 

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