Major railway lines in Metro Manila will suspend their operations on Thursday , November 12, as a safety measure due to inclement weather caused by Typhoon "Ulysses"
In separate advisories posted early Thursday, the Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 (LRT-1 and LRT-2), the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) announced that their operations will be suspended "until further notice."
The move was made in anticipation of possible severe effects of the typhoon, as the capital region was placed under tropical cyclone wind signal number 3.
"We will advise the resumption of railway operations once all systems checks are done and cleared," Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddess Libiran told reporters on Thursday.
Areas where storm warning signal number 3 was hoisted will experience 121 to 170 kilometers per hour winds within 18 hours and may uproot trees and cause moderate to heavy damage, PAGASA said.
Based on PAGASA's 4 a.m. weather bulletin, the typhoon was already in the vicinity of San Antonio in Nueva Ecija as of Thursday where it made its third landfall at 1:30 a.m.
The state weather bureau said destructive winds and heavy to intense, with at times torrential rainfall associated with the region of inner rainbands and eyewall of the typhoon, will be experienced over Metro Manila and other areas in Luzon such as the central and southern portions of Aurora, northern portion of Quezon including Polillo Islands, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, and Rizal within the next three hours.
“Ulysses” is forecast to continue crossing the landmass of Central Luzon then emerge over the western seaboard of Zambales on Thursday before its expected exit from the Philippine area of responsibility on Friday morning or afternoon.