‘PNR to come back stronger’

MANILA, Philippines — The management of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) has promised that the state-owned rail line would “come back stronger” amid the challenges, both natural and man-made, that it faced this year.

During the celebration of its 132nd anniversary at the PNR’s inoperable Tutuban station in Manila, PNR assistant general manager Celeste Lauta said the rail service “faced a particularly challenging year” in 2024.

She recalled the “unprecedented” damage to trains and facilities, particularly in the Bicol region, where areas were submerged in floods for up to five days, as well as the “reduction of operations” with the five-year shutdown of the PNR’s Metro Manila trips beginning last March.

Lauta lauded the “hardworking men and women” of the PNR who, despite the challenges, remained “resilient” like the rail line itself, which she said had survived natural calamities, the Philippine revolution and World War II in the past 132 years.

PNR general manager Deovanni Miranda said the rail management is currently improving its signaling system as part of the ongoing North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project.

“We started installing new communications for the PNR. We have also put up CCTVs in stations and level crossings in the Bicol region and the provinces of Quezon and Laguna, as well as in train sets,” he said.

PNR chairman Michael Ted Macapagal assured PNR employees and board members, as well as its foreign partners, that “once the NSCR project is complete, the PNR will come back stronger and better than before.”

He disclosed the proposal to have the NSCR train sets bring cargo from Clark in Pampanga to Metro Manila and Calamba, Laguna.

He vowed that the PNR board would work on reviving the South Long Haul, also called the Bicol Express, from Laguna to Albay.

At present, PNR trips are available twice a day between Calamba, Laguna and Lucena, Quezon, thrice a day between Naga and Sipocot in Camarines Sur and three times a day between Sipocot and Naga.

The PNR’s predecessor Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan was inaugurated through an order from the Kingdom of Spain on Nov. 24, 1892, with a railway of 195.4 kilometers. The rail line from La Union to Bicol was established in 1938 during the American colonial period. The PNR was created under Republic Act 4156 in June 1964.

Over the years, several routes have been decommissioned or destroyed by natural and man-made disasters.