Looking forward to great rail service
THE good news on rail travel in the country last week was that the government’s biggest railway project – the North-South Commuter Railway – had been issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The bad news was that the existing train service to the south under the Philippine National Railways (PNR) has been suspended after a southbound train was derailed last week because some of the tracks had been stolen.
Rail travel has been increasingly gaining public support for a number of reasons. It can transport tremendous numbers of people quickly. It does not contribute to traffic congestion the way buses and jeepneys do. Environmentalists see it as an answer to the air pollution and climate change caused by gas emissions from thousands of internalcombustion engines of cars and trucks.
Metro Manila today is served by several lines of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). Hundreds of thousands of commuters depend on these lines to get to work. Thousands of others living south of Manila are served by the commuter trains of the PNR.
The LRT – whose main line connects Caloocan City in the north, down through Manila, to Pasay and Parañaque in the south – was built many years ago, during the Marcos administration, but it has continued to serve the people well. Surprisingly, the much later MRT along Epifanio de los Santos Ave. has been suffering from frequent breakdowns, resulting in long lines of commuters waiting for their rides.
The North Rail, to be built with assistance from Japan, will connect Metro Manila to Malolos, Bulacan, by 2020. The South Rail will go all the way to Bicol. This North-South Railway is a long-range project that speaks highly of the foresight of the officials who planned it.
The railroad facilities we already have must be given the same conscientious attention from our government. The MRT remains a problem with its breakdowns. As for the PNR, there seems to be a need for tighter security to protect the tracks from thieves. As we look forward to the great future of railway service in our country, we hope the problems in these earlier lines will be quickly and efficiently solved by our officials.