PNR to privatize operations, maintenance of railways

STATE-OWNED Philippine National Railways (PNR) plans to privatize the operation and maintenance of the Caloocan to Alabang rail system and its Bicol line.

In a roundtable interview with The Manila Times, Michael Defensor, PNR chairman, said “we have to be creative enough to get private sector participation to get more coaches and assured that it would be a continuing operation [for] PNR.”

”We have to privatize everything in PNR. So when we leave, everything would be operational,” he added.

PNR operates passenger train services in Metro Manila as well as in the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Camarines Sur and Albay. In the past, it also served Cavite and the northern provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and La Union.

The PNR chairman did not provide any time frame for the privatization as the agency is still waiting for the study done by Rail Tech to be finished before it can be auctioned off.

Defensor said PNR and Rail Tech—composed of retired PNR employees—has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last week for the study of the operation and maintenance of the rail system.
The final proposal is expected to be finished by next month.

The revitalized Caloocan to Alabang rail system is the first phase of the $59-million official development assistance (ODA) from Korean government. It involves the rehabilitation of all train stations and tracks as well as the deployment of 21 brand new air-conditioned diesel multiple units (DMUs).

The second phase involves the rehabilitation of tracks and train stations from Alabang-to-Calamba as well as the deployment of 18 brand-new DMUs.

At present, the Caloocan to Alabang rail system has 17 stations.

Defensor said PNR needs to buy more coaches to serve the expected increase in the number of passengers in the future.

“But, we don’t have the money. We have to get private sectors to come in,” he added.

The system has an estimated daily ridership of about 50,000 a day.
“Our target daily ridership is 100,000,” Defensor said.

According to the PNR official, it would cost P5 million to repair and rehabilitate a train coach, while the brand new coach would cost P100 million.

Defensor said PNR charges P16 from Caloocan to Alabang, cheaper compared with the bus fare of between P40 and P50 for the same distance.

Earlier, PNR has inked an MOU with Metro Pacific Tollway Corp. (MPTC) to build a 13-kilometer expressway on top of its railroad network leading to the expressway.

The PNR official said MPTC will use PNR’s right of way to build the expressway on top of the railroad from Buendia station to C-3 station. –Manila Times