Tag Archives: Trains

Social Media, Technology, Travel

Manila’s Light Rail System Inaugurates World’s First Open-Door Roller Coaster Commuter Train

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Six Flags (inset: Cubelo)
Six Flags (inset: Cubelo)

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Move over, Six Flags and Great America. Here comes Manila’s open-door roller coaster train, the world’s first low-cost amusement mass commuter train.

For thrill-seekers, riding the Light Railway Train (LRT) in Manila is an experience like no other. Imagine riding in a packed train car, running at full-speed above ground with its doors fully open!

Well, we can’t describe the feeling, but student James Cubelo can, and shares his selfie video with readers and followers of The Adobo Chronicles.

It’s more fun in the Philippines. We mean really, really more fun!

This newest attraction is brought to you by the Aquino government.

Watch the VIDEO.

 

Government, Technology, Travel

Will New MRT Trains Boost The Philippines’ Mess Transportation?

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New MRT coaches arrive from China
New MRT coaches arrive from China

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – A better Metro Rail Transit (MRT) system in the coming months is guaranteed by the Philippines’ Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to commuters with the arrival of new coaches, CNN reports.

But if you ask the MRT Holdings, Inc. (MRTH), mother company of the MRT Corporation, private owner of the MRT, it wouldn’t recommend taking the new train for safety reasons.

“We feel this is a danger to the riding public. Not to mention a danger to the system itself. It might destroy the MRT system itself, that we own,” MRTH Chairman Robert Sobrepeña said.

Sobrepeña claims that Chinese firm Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., Ltd., which is supplying the new coaches, has no track record of building a similar train type. “That means this is a guinea pig that we are testing. I wouldn’t ride it. I wouldn’t risk my life on an LRV (light rail vehicle) manufactured by a company that’s never made such an LRV.”

In 2013, President Noynoy Aquino said that if the problems that have consistently plagued the  MRT were not solved by the end of 2015, he and Transportatiom Secretary Joseph Abaya will let themselves be run over by a train. The Filipinos are still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.

In the meantime, Metro Manila’s mass transportation continues to be a mess.

 

 

International, Travel

FILIPINOS COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS; MRT NOT THE WORST IN THE WORLD

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imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – MRT, Metro Manila’s much-maligned light railway transit system is, after all, not the worst in the world.

Filipinos came to the realization that the long lines leading up to the ticket booths and platforms, packed trains and frequent mechanical breakdowns are nothing compared to the commute time woes experienced by riders of more high-tech mass transit counterparts in other countries, including neighboring Japan.

The ‘ah-ha’ moment for Pinoys came as this video of commute hours in Japan surfaced on the Internet. It puts the phrase, ‘packed like sardines’ to shame.

Once in a while, we should all pause and count our blessings