By Azer N. Parrocha | December 24, 2015 | Philippine News Agency

MANILA, Philippines -- The Metro Rail Transit’s second new light rail vehicle (LRV) or coach has arrived as scheduled, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said Thursday.

The new MRT Line 3 coach was delivered at the Manila International Container Terminal on Wednesday (Dec. 23), the DOTC said.

It will be transported to the MRT-3 depot at the corner of North Avenue and EDSA in Quezon City, where tests on the different components will be conducted until February.

These include testing the German-made traction motors from Voith and brake systems from Knorr-Bremse, and the overall performance of the LRV to ensure that it is safe, reliable, and at par with international standards.

After this, two more coaches are expected to be delivered over the next two months. DOTC said passengers can already expect one new running train by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

DOTC earlier said that the delivery of the coaches would be at four units per month by March, and was scheduled to be completed with the 48th unit in January 2017.

The department’s project implementation team has been closely monitoring the production process to ensure the rapid progress and proper manufacture of the new trains.

The 48 new LRVs are part of the DOTC’s MRT-3 capacity expansion project, which aims to decongest the metropolis’ busiest railway system by boosting its capacity to over 800,000 daily passengers.

To recall, the DOTC announced the delivery of the first MRT-3 prototype train car by its manufacturer early September.

After assembly, the unit's components such as the doors, seats, poles, and hand straps underwent dynamic testing in November. DOTC began ordering coaches after the unit was tested to be compatible with the rail system.