Details Category: Regions 06 Apr 2014 Written by Manly M. Ugalde / Correspondent
LEGAZPI CITY—The resumption of the service of the much-awaited Bicol Express commuter-train project of the Philippine National Railway (PNR) remains uncertain, PNR Regional Manager Constancio Toledano said.
Toledano made the admission even as he said the PNR is hurrying the repair and replacement of damaged railroad ties almost eight years after much of the tracks were destroyed by Typhoon Reming in 2006.
The proposed commuter-train service for the 90-kilometer long Naga City-Legazpi route would have three scheduled daytime trips every day. The plan was later reduced to two trips daily.
Early last month, the Naga City Council filed a resolution urging the PNR to start with its much-awaited commuter train service. It would normally take two hours and 30 minutes to traverse the Legazpi—Naga route, with fares 30 percent lower than those charged by local buses. Bus trips along the route usually took three hours of travel time and two hours by utility vehicles.
The Naga City council resolution was prompted by commuter complaints who said traveling the Legazpi-Naga route took longer due to the ongoing construction of roads and bridges along the Maharlika highway in the Camarines Sur area.
The PNR engineering department has reportedly issued a certification on the stability of the Bicol railroad tracks which are now congested with squatters that mushroomed during the eight years the train service did not operate.
Toledano said the Naga-Legazpi route would be operated by a train with three coaches, with each coach accommodating 100 passengers or 300 passengers per trip.
He said, however, that during the period 2008 to 2010 under General Manager Manuel Andal, a commuter train for the Legazpi-Naga route was operated for two years, but failed to make money. Toledano said only an average of 17 passengers per trip were serviced and that the government was losing heavily.
Toledano said Junio Ragragio assumed the post of PNR general manager from 2010 to 2013, and that during the period, Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda emphasized the need for the immediate return of Bicol Express trains.
Early this week, the Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) filed criminal charges against PNR officials headed by Ragragio over the importation in 2012 of alleged inferior wooden railroad ties as replacements of the old ones damaged by Typhoon Reming. The CCW Bicol chapter claimed the P49-million imported railroad ties from China were made of softwood such as “palo china” and “gmelina” that could not guarantee the safety of the train and its passengers.
PNR offcials denied the accusations, saying the new railroad ties described as “larch specie” are being used in many countries such as Japan, China, Canada and the United States, and that the importation was resorted to because of the government log ban.
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