Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Philippine National Railways (PNR) has resumed operations on Thursday (July 23) after almost three months of inactivity.
The PNR stopped operations last May 5 after one of its trains got derailed in April. Third party consultant TÜV Rheinland issued a safety certification after PNR met its requirements.
“Ngayon I’m confident. Last month ko pa gusto patakbuhin [pero] ngayon lang na-comply [yung] requirement [ng] TÜV Rheinland,” PNR General Manager Joseph Allan Dilay said.
[Translation: Now, I am confident. I actually wanted the trains to runs since last month, but it was only now that PNR was able to comply with the requirements set by TÜV Rheinland.]
Related: Labor, safety issues mar PNR suspension
Dilay added that there is no fare hike at the moment, but a proposal for an increase is under review.
‘Short notice’
As early as 4:00 a.m, PNR passengers were already waiting for the gate to open at the PNR Tutuban Station. They wanted to catch the first trip after the suspension of operations.
There weren’t too many passengers because of the short notice that the trains are now running again.
PNR will only run from Tutuban to Alabang and vice versa from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, as safety inspection still has to be done for the rest of the route, from Muntinlupa all the way to Calamba, Laguna.
It also changed schedule and now leaves the station every 34 minutes instead of the previous interval of 30 minutes because of speed limits. The trains travel at only 25 kph from Edsa to FTI Station where a lot of repair work on the tracks was done.
The fastest train runs at 40 kph.
6 trains running
Currently, six trains are operating with a total of 46 trips in a day, which could carry around 70,000 passengers.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya and PNR officials took the train on Thursday to check the situation at the tracks.
During the months when operations was suspended, the trains and PNR tracks went through repairs and rehabilitation, including rail replacement and installation of anti-theft bolts to prevent pilferage. Trains were also repainted.
Related: Scavengers caught selling stolen PNR rail parts
