The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) will shut down its operations starting Tuesday, July 7, as 17 station personnel have tested positive for Covid-19.
In a statement, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said the July 7 to 11 suspension would give way to swab testing of all its employees, to be conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases ordered the temporary shutdown, and would only allow MRT-3 to reopen once a sufficient number of personnel test negative to enable resumption of at least limited operations, the DoTr-MRT-3 said.
“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 statement read.
Personnel who test positive will be directed to government quarantine facilities, while those who test negative will be part of the limited pool of employees for MRT-3’s limited resumption, it said.
Out of its more than 3,200 employees, at least 1,300 personnel need to test positive for MRT-3 to resume limited operations, it said.
During the temporary shutdown, the MRT-3 Bus Augmentation program will continue with 90 buses to each be dispatched in three-minute intervals.
In addition, 150 buses will be deployed for the EDSA Busway service, to service passengers between Monumento and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITx).
“During this pandemic, the mandate to support the reopening of the economy shall be balanced with the health and safety of the riding public, and of our public transport personnel,” DoTr-MRT-3 said.
Of the 17 station employees who tested positive, 11 were ticket sellers from North Avenue, Cubao and Kamuning, three were train drivers, two were control center personnel and one was a nurse. John Ezekiel J. Hirro