PNR general manager Deovanni Miranda is asking Congress for an additional budget so that his agency could revive Lucena-Naga trips, spanning more than 250 kilometers, by the end of 2026.
For 2026, the Department of Budget and Management is proposing to give the PNR an allocation of P351.62 million, far from the original request of P9.19 billion.
Right now, the PNR is repairing the bridges and tracks to the north of Sipocot, Camarines Sur. It is aiming to reconnect the line to Lucena to provide commuters with rail transit when traveling in Southern Tagalog and Bicol.
Without the requested capital, Miranda said it would be challenging to sustain train services.
The PNR will use the funding to procure maintenance equipment and new locomotives to ensure that trips are comfortable and reliable.
‘The PNR still does not have good maintenance equipment and a train workshop in our southern operations. We still use the same old style of manual maintenance. We don’t have a new fleet of trains which can provide comfortable and reliable long-haul travel,’ Miranda told The STAR.
Fortunately, the PNR is receiving offers from rail operators in Japan and Taiwan for the donation of narrow-gauge locomotives to boost its fleet for Lucena-Naga trips.
The PNR is also ready to spend as much as P143.84 million to migrate its old trainsets in Manila and Caloocan to serve the Lucena and Camarines Sur lines.
A new, improved railway is waiting to be built in the Bicol Region, called the South Long Haul Project. The SLH was supposed to be funded by a loan from China, but Manila withdrew its request in 2023 due to Beijing’s inaction.
The SLH will build a 557-kilometer line between Sucat, Muntinlupa and Matnog, Sorsogon, parallel to the old Bicol Express. Since the SLH will deploy high-speed trains, it will slash travel time from Manila to Bicol to just four hours.
Economist and former Albay lawmaker Joey Salceda is hoping France will take the project as conveyed by French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad Laurent Saint-Martin during his April visit.
Salceda recognizes the funding issue faced by the SLH, especially as it would cost P175 billion to build, making it one of the most expensive projects in the government’s rail pipeline.
For comparison, the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 is estimated to cost P68.2 billion, while the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension Project requires less at P64.9 billion.
Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon is asking the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to find the SLH a new financier immediately.
Given the scale of the SLH, it is banked on to bolster the economic prospects of Bicol, one of the country’s poorest regions.
Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, poverty incidence in Bicol remains one of the highest at 20.3 percent as of 2023. This is nearly double the national average of 10.9 percent.
‘It (SLH) can provide more impactful outcomes for the regional corridors of Bicol and Southern Tagalog on economic growth, poverty reduction and reduced travel times,’ Ridon told The STAR.
President Marcos has framed his administration as a period for rail renaissance, initially eyeing to partially operate within his term the country’s largest rail projects: the North-South Commuter Railway and the Metro Manila Subway Project.
Instead, the DOTr was burdened with troubles in right of way acquisition, delaying the timelines of ongoing projects, while proposed ones like SLH lost potential funders.