EXPECT a train to run in the streets of Cebu City beginning next month as the city government is set to conduct road tests for a hybrid electric train from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) head lawyer Rafael Christopher Yap said that one unit of the prototype first ever Filipino-made hybrid electric train will be delivered by DOST to the city in September for test drive as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in May last year by then Mayor Michael Rama and DOST.
Under the MOU, the city will have to identify train routes for the prototype and also submit to DOST a list of personnel who will be trained to drive.
The hybrid electric train, which took DOST three years to develop, looks like buses linked to one another. It is considered environmentally friendly as it runs both on electric power and diesel fuel. No cables or metal tracks are needed.
“First we have to check its technical capability to run. The reason why they are sending it to us is for our testing, and then if we like it, to promote the road train,” Yap said, adding that the hybrid electric train is being eyed as a solution to commuter problems in the city.