The rail effect

Agricultural fields – planted with rice, sugar, corn or what-have-you – are abundant in this country. You’ll see them in forgotten and far-flung rural villages, on both sides of narrow provincial roads or national highways or at the foot of towering mountain ranges. They’re either straight, wide or undulating but all sprawling and evergreen – as far as the eye can see.

In some places, like in faraway Bicol, some of these fields are found in the shadows of passing trains – and unfortunately, that’s the closest they’ll ever meet, at least for now, as The STAR’s transport reporter Elijah Rosales wrote in a special report he co-authored with agriculture reporter Jasper Arcalas.

Their story is a two-part special report on the need to revive the fabled Bicol Express, the train between Manila and Bicol but this time, to include freight services. It’s an important story which I urge you all to read (See Rural resurgence requires rail revival, The STAR, published on Aug. 20 and 21).

The report puts the spotlight on Bicol, a food basket, and how reviving the train to Manila can help its farmers bring their produce faster and cheaper to their market, to our tables.

Fortunately, there are plans to launch such a cargo service.

In the report, Transportation Undersecretary Jeremy Regino said the government is looking for a financier for the Philippine National Railways South Long Haul.

This time, Usec. Regino said the government wants to retrofit the alignment to the south of Luzon for cargo purposes.

“The plan, if pursued, could change the game for the close to 600,000 farmers in Bicol,” the report said.

Regino told The STAR that the PNR would ask for P5 billion to pursue this project. He prays lawmakers would give it a chance, especially as it will benefit farmers. The PNR will spend the bulk of the P5 billion in building a dry port in Calamba where containers can be lifted in and out of the freight trains. The agency would also have to acquire flat cars, the rolling stock with open decks used mainly for cargo carriage.

It is one of the most important stories I’ve read so far this year and I fervently hope policymakers would take such plans into consideration.

Importance of rails

Those of us who have had the chance to visit other countries must have experienced taking the intercity or interstate trains, and on the central stations or while on the train ride itself, it’s hard not to notice the long, snaking freight trains, moving from one city, province or country to another.

How unfortunate that our country did not prioritize having our own freight rail. We have moved from one administration to another yet no leader had the vision to initiate such a critical infrastructure project.

We wrack our heads wondering how to strengthen our agriculture industry but we just needed to connect farmers in food baskets such as Bicol to their markets, at a lower cost.

The importance of rails, not just for the movement of people but for goods, too, cannot be over-emphasized. We’ve seen this in other countries.

Big news from Canada, for instance, is the impact of a massive rail shutdown which took effect recently.

The shutdown, brought about by a work stoppage of some 10,000 workers, covers the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

According to a news report published by freshfruitportal.com, concerns about the strike’s impact on agriculture are growing.

The coalition Stopthestrike.ca which gathers members of the agriculture sector, sent a letter to the Canadian Minister of Labor, Steve MacKinnon, stating, “Rail service disruptions jeopardize the timely delivery of our products to international markets, leading to delayed shipments, contract penalties and canceled orders.”

Furthermore, the report said, it is not only farmers and consumers that are affected but global food affordability and security as well.

Even traders from the US depend on the Canadian railway system.

According to a report from the USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service Grain Transportation, US-Canadian agricultural trade is largely dependent on rail as the products are moved by rail.

In 2023, $28.2 billion of US agricultural products were exported to Canada, making Canada the third largest destination for agricultural exports (behind China and Mexico). In the same year, the United States imported $40.1 billion of Canadian agricultural products, making Canada the second-largest origin of US agricultural imports (behind Mexico), according to the report, as quoted by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

This goes to show the importance of rail in moving agricultural products.

Now if only we had a cargo or freight train service here in our country instead of prioritizing road development to accommodate all those American car manufacturers in the post American colonial era.

I imagine that our roads would have been decongested because farmers wouldn’t have to rely on trucks to transport their goods at higher prices.

I’m not so sure about the economic viability of operating a freight train. Perhaps it’s not that lucrative, which is why no tycoon has proposed it.

But if the government looks beyond the viability of the freight rail itself, it would realize that every Filipino – taxpayer, consumer, motorist, farmer and every local industry – would benefit from having an efficient cargo service.

After all, where railroads go, people, goods and services follow, and where the railroads end, opportunities, much like the train doors, swing wide open.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.