Iona Finlay Mendoza | Rappler | November 17, 2017

The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) is cutting its operating hours short beginning Friday, November 17.

Starting Friday, the new operation schedule is shortened by an hour to give way for longer safety checks.

On regular days, operation will start later at 5:30 am daily and will close earlier at 10:30 pm. The last revenue train from North Avenue station will depart at 9:10 pm, while the train from Taft Avenue will depart at 9:50 pm.

Headways of each train during weekdays is expected at 5.5 minutes and 7.5 minutes during weekends.

The MRT3 management also announced that only 15 trains will be in use during weekdays, lower than the usual 15 to 18 trains in operation per day.

Meanwhile, the number of trains available for use on weekends remains the same at 12.

The previous schedule of MRT3 starts at 5 am and closes at 11 pm.

The change was made for longer maintenance schedule following a recent detachment of train cars on Thursday, November 16. It forced passengers to walk along the tracks between Ayala and Buendia stations.

Senator Grace Poe called for a temporary shutdown of operations for longer safety checks but MRT3 operations director Mike Capati said it will only bring grave inconvenience to the riding public.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said that there is no need to suspend operations and gave assurances to the public that the train system is safe for its riders to use despite safety concerns.