Extension of PNR’s corporate life sought

Lawmakers from the Bicol Region will sponsor the bill seeking to extend the Philippine National Railways’ (PNR) corporate life for 50 more years.

PNR general manager Engr. Joseph Allan Dilay said he was able to convince 10 congressmen from Bicol Region after presenting to them the agency’s roadmap in rehabilitating the State-owned and –operated rail facility that extends from as far as La Union, Pangasinan in the North, and Legazpi City in the South.

PNR recently marked its 121th founding anniversary. It was earlier called as the Ferocarril de Manila-Dagupan through Republic Act 4156, which prescribed it to exist for a period of 50 years since the law’s approval on June 20, 1946.

However, various interpretations of the law placed PNR’s expiry on 2014 or on 2024, if Ferdinand Marcos’ Presidential Decree 741, which was issued on July 3, 1975 to amend RA 4156, will be the basis.

Dilay said he was able to convince Bicolano lawmakers to extend the PNR’s corporate life from June 20, 2014 to June 20, 2064.

Among Dilay’s proposed projects for 2014 include:

• P2.6-billion double tracking of 36.3-kilometer Alabang to Los Banos railway section
• P10.6-billion upgrading of 422-kilometer Calamba to Legazpi railway section; and 
• P22.6-billion 135-kilometer Sorsogon railway extension line.

Dilay said it is also a priority for him to reconstruct the bridges, rehabilitate the Bicol Express tracks as well as the locomotive and rolling stock for the interprovincial line. The project would cost at least P18-billion, if appended to the Calamba-Legazpi railway upgrading, and is targeted for implementation between the first quarter of 2014 to the last quarter of 2016.

The train system was founded on November 24, 1892 as the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan during the Spanish colonial period, and later became the Manila Railroad Company (MRRco) at the time the Americans colonized the Philippines, catering passengers from Manila to Dagupan.

In 1930s, the first Bicol train was put into commercial operations. By virtue of the Republic Act 4156 on June 20, 1964, the corporate name MRRco changed to Philippine National Railways (PNR), an attached agency under the Department of Transportation and Communications.

The PNR currently operates the Metro South Commuter (MSC) line that runs from Tutuban to Biñan in Laguna as well as the Bicol Commuter that caters passengers between Naga and Sipocot.