Metro Rail Transit (MRT) is indeed a very useful transportation to all of us. It helps us to reach our designated destinations quicker and easier. Unfortunately, MRT stations are known for its large volume of crowd. This is just one of the places in the metro where you can see thousands of people pushing against each other just to squeeze into the MRT cars. The horrible accident yesterday, however, may change this daily scenario since it immensely caused trauma to thousands of commuters including those people who were in Taft station, Pasay city.
Wednesday afternoon, a defective MRT train overshot the platform of EDSA-Taft station and smashed the concrete barriers at the end of the train tracks. A DOTC official said, "initial reports showed the derailed train had lost power between Magallanes and Taft stations. The busted train cars were then pushed by another train towards MRT Taft station but one passenger noticed something and said, “Nawalan ata ng preno yun isang train.”
Though there were hundreds of people who rode the MRT, fortunately only around 30 passengers were injured and six passing vehicles were damaged. At least 20 passengers were reportedly rushed to the Pasay city General Hospital while 10 passengers were brought to San Juan De Dios hospital. I hope they are now in good condition and I wish that none of them sustained severe injuries.
On the other hand, the incident should be a lesson for the entire MRT management, who is responsible in fixing those mechanical problems to avoid such accident. Though they issued out their apology, a commentator from ABS-CBN news yesterday mentioned, “naluluma din naman ang mga train, yun mga kagamitin sa loob ng makina ay nagkakaroon ng depekto kaya dapat maayos na ang mga ito, matagal nang dapat naayos pero nagkukulang din sa oras dahil sa dami ng taong dumaragsa pati sa perang pang pondo e, masyado pang nagkwekwentahan.”
I firmly believe those comments and I would suggest that the passengers should stop patronizing MRT 3 for quite a while, so we can give ample time for the management to fix what is needed to be done. I don't like to be part of the blame game. All I want is a full renovation of the train tracks and to push them to acquire additional brand new train cars as well.
I know for majority of us, MRT is the fastest way to reach to our destinations but for everyone’s safety it would be better if we will sacrifice a little bit. We can wake up earlier than usual and start using alternative mode of transportation to avoid experiencing horrifying accidents in MRT stations.
To the management of MRT 3, I know that millions of revenues are being generated everyday. So, please stop your greediness, suspend the operations of MRT, and start working for the safety of your loyal passengers. How I wish that you guys would realize to value our lives!
