Council seeks study on Cebu City railway

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council last week requested the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of a railway system as additional mass transport system in the city.

This came around a week after DOTr presented to the Capitol a proposed underground railway system that would connect Carcar City in the south and Danao City in the north.

City Councilor Rey Gealon, said he wanted for DOTr to explore the possibility of a railway from Bulacao in the south to Mabolo in the north traversing N. Bacalso Ave.

Other routes, he said, would be on Pope John Paul Ave., Gen. Maxilom Ave., Gorordo Ave., Osmeña Boulevard, Escario Street, and Archbishop Reyes Avenue towards the Banilad-Talamban Corridor, could be other railway lines.

The councilor, who heads the City’s Traffic Management Coordinating Committee, was the one who authored the resolution that the City Council passed during its regular session.

“Based on traffic count and other available data with CCTO (Cebu City Transportation Office), following time and motion studies conducted, these are the areas with the most ridership that need efficient and reliable public transport - and the most feasible at that,” he said.

Gealon said DOTr is the right office to do the feasibility study since it is the “primary policy, planning, programming, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the executive branch of the government on the promotion, development, and regulation of a dependable and coordinated network of transportation systems.”

The City Council with Gealon that railways are a "climate-smart and efficient way to move people and freight” and they “promote economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”

“They are a clean and compact way to move millions of passengers and millions of tons of goods across countries and continents,” it said.

“It is therefore requested that DOTr conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of a railway system within the City of Cebu, likened to that of the rail transport in Singapore,” it added.

Gealon said that a railway system within Cebu City would not only help the environment but also improve the city’s transport system of the city.

“We'll leave the design to DOTr to make both transportation systems coordinated and intermodal. The more mass transport in the city, the better for Cebuanos,” he further said. — (FREEMAN)