The said error caused one of the trains to be derailed and decommissioned for revenue service for the entire day.
In its advisory on Wednesday, September 16, the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced that rides along the LRT-2 line are free for the entire day.
This decision comes after the last scheduled train on Tuesday, September 15, got derailed at the Santolan station.
This caused the vehicle to hit the platform and its wheel fall out, with the track switch also getting damaged.
Atty. Hernando Cabrera, Administrator of the LRTA, disclosed that based on the preliminary investigation, the incident was caused by a “human error.”
He explained, “Binigyan ng go signal yung train na papuntang Antipolo sana at mag-rereverse pabalik. Ang sabi sa kanya, clear ‘yung dadaanan mo. But apparently, hindi clear kasi ‘yung track switch, iba ‘yung direksyon—papuntang depot at hindi Antipolo.“
As a result of the incident, the LRT-2 implemented limited service between Recto and Araneta Center-Cubao stations, which inconvenienced thousands of passengers, early Tuesday morning.
It was only at past 7:30 am when services from Recto to Antipolo resumed. But as a precautionary measure, the speed limit for trains approaching the Santolan station was limited to 20 kph, down from 40 kph.
Moreover, instead of ten, only 9 trains served the network on Tuesday.