Train commuters’ woes
Approximately 30,000 people use the commuter trains between Malabon and Calamba, Laguna, and another 2,000 from the station in Alabang, Muntinlupa to Calamba, according to the Philippine National Railways. During rush hour, the inadequacy of the facilities is evident as commuters pack themselves like sardines into the PNR trains.
Now the commuters’ situation is about to become more difficult as the PNR announced that the train service would soon be suspended for five years. The move, which will pave the way for the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway, will be announced two months before the shutdown.
Despite overcrowding, trains are favored modes of transportation because the trip is not hindered by traffic, and arrivals and departures are predictable. In the past decades, other countries have invested heavily in modern, high-speed railways with multimodal transport hubs. Trains dedicated to cargo transport have helped decongest urban traffic. There are trains that can run at jetliner speed. Environment-friendly magnetic levitation powers other train services.
In the Philippines, unfortunately, railway development has gone in the opposite direction. Railway service in Luzon was more extensive during the Spanish colonial period, and progressively deteriorated as Filipinos embraced cars and other motorized vehicles. Now the country is just starting to catch up, when Metro Manila and other urban centers have become densely populated with little room for railway expansion. The country’s first subway project is still several years away from completion.
A more immediate concern is providing alternatives to the thousands of commuters who will be affected once the five-year shutdown to be implemented by the PNR starts. By next year, however, there could be even fewer public utility vehicles as traditional jeepneys are phased out. Jeepney operators have said they need assistance in forming cooperatives and pooling their resources to procure modern jeepneys and run the business under a service contracting scheme.
Modernizing the railway service, modest as the projects are compared with those in other countries, has been needed for a long time. Every effort must be made to ensure that the projects will not become bogged down in controversies. Another challenge is to minimize the pain for the thousands of commuters who will be affected.