'Mr. Railwayman' rides high

 It’s good to be back in Manila. Would you believe that it’s still better to live here in our own homeland? I just got back from my four-day trip that took me to the islands of the Republic of Maldives. I joined the media group that covered the mission there by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The UNISDR mission to Maldives was led by Sen. Loren Legarda in her capacity as the designated “champion” for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

As official guests of the Maldivian government, we were taken to some of its islands destroyed during the December 2004 tsunami but were already rehabilitated. We traveled and transferred from one island to another either via fast ferry or seaplanes. The seaplanes, or what Maldivians call “air taxi” caught our fancy. Like the Maldives, the Philippines as an archipelagic country is best suited to have seaplanes as alternative mode of air transport to promote inter-island eco-tourism.

When I got back to Manila Tuesday, some nostalgic memories came back when I saw a visibly elated President Arroyo in leading the ceremonial roll out of three brand new commuter trains of the Philippine National Railways. Accompanied by PNR officials headed by chair Michael “Mike” Defensor Jr., Mrs. Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro rode in spanky and air-conditioned commuter train coaches that started plying Metro Manila to link up the North and South lines of the country’s oldest rail transport agency.

While I was in my student days at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in the Sta. Mesa campus, we were riding the PNR commuter train that were almost four decades old then. The famous Peñafrancia Express, powered by Shinco diesel engines, was built in 1974. Some newer coaches were added to the line some time in 1999, but they were then over 10-year old “hand-me-downs” from Japan.

While we usually prefer to deal with events like this with guarded optimism, we have to say this is one real positive development in the rail transport sector and a fresh lease on the life as far as the PNR is concerned.  

We also hope this development is a genuine expression of transport policies which recognize the vital role, economy and practicability of rail transport, especially in this day and age when the most urgent concerns of us, urban dwellers are surging oil prices and the quality of the air we breathe. A convenient and comfortable rail-based transportation system is very much welcome.

We have a relatively well-developed rail conveyance system that dates back to the late 1800s. The system traversed Luzon from as far as La Union in the north to Bicol in the south. Train travel had been romanticized in local lore and gave birth to the popular folk phrase “biyaheng Bicol” (Bicol-bound trip) to connote long, tedious travel. But for unknown reasons — political, some say, the PNR deteriorated through the years.

Now, at last, we have the real brand new trains for the PNR commuter line. These new trains, Defensor reported, were from Hyundai Rotem of South Korea that were delivered to the PNR between March and June last year. According to Defensor, the new units will ply the Caloocan-Calamba route. This service should benefit about 50,000 commuters daily. Travel time from Caloocan to Calamba will only take less than an hour.

That means a college student living in one of the villages in San Pedro, Laguna can still make it to his 7:30 a.m. class at the University of the East in Caloocan City if he catches the 6:15 a.m. commuter train. Students and commuters alike will only pay about P15. The bulk of ridership, though, is expected to come from the Makati-based white-collar commuters. They will now have two rail-based options: the MRT line which drops them off at Ayala or Buendia, or the new PNR commuter coaches where they can alight at the Gil Puyat Station.

From a commonsense view, however, we know that the new commuter trains do not complete the story. Fielding brand new trains along the commuter line would not have been a good idea if the PNR right of way were still colonized by informal settler communities. The latter’s presence along the railroad tracks significantly contributed to the slow pace of travel since the trains often had to slowdown when traversing the colonized portions to avoid accidents.

 The informal settler colonies were also responsible for making the older trains that plied this route one giant moving garbage bin. For the most part, these blighted areas are now things of the past. Defensor teamed up with Vice President De Castro in the transfer and relocation of the informal settler families who used to live in shanties that dotted the railtracks. They were moved to more permanent and better communities in Metro Manila’s neighboring areas. Defensor started this while he was the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council when he first joined the Arroyo administration in January 2001. This must be one of those rare cases of continuity in his successive postings as a government official.

If nothing distracts Defensor between now and the end of the President’s term, we can still hope to see the complete revival of at least the southbound route of the PNR line. So, we can only hope that no political trouble-shooting for the scandal-prone Arroyo administration would subtract from the attention that Defensor is giving to this vital transportation project. He made quite a feat in the opening of the erstwhile-mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal III. We surmise that his ability to bring people and agencies together would have much to do with this latest positive development in the rail transport sector.

We recall that unfortunate episode when one Manila judge subjected Defensor to name-calling. The judge, in one of his ruling on a perjury case filed by Defensor, pejoratively referred to the complainant as “Mr. Railwayman” with his “old, rusty, dilapidated trains.” Maybe, Defensor can go back to the good judge and tell him that the new train sets from Hyundai Rotem makes the disparaging statement outdated.

 And with the new comfortable commuter trains rolling, we guess Defensor can now wear the title ‘Mr. Railwayman” with pride.