DOTC has awarded a PhP 3.8 billion contract to China-based CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company for the procurement of new trains to decongest MRT-3. The project covers the design, supply, and delivery of 48 light rail vehicles with an on-board communications system, an on-board automatic train protection (ATP) system, and one unit train simulator. The acquisition of new trains would help ease the MRT system that currently serves close to 600,000 passengers daily, almost double its design capacity of 350,000.