Manila Railroad The origins of the Philippine National Railways can be traced to Edmund Sykes's concession, the Manila Railway Company, Limited. Sykes was granted concession rights by the Spanish government to construct a rail line from
Manila to
Dagupan on June 1, 1887. The line opened as the Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan on November 24, 1892, and the Manila Railway Company was formally incorporated in Manila and London. The Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan would eventually become the
North Main Line, while services to Southern Luzon under the
South Main Line would be completed by 1937. The Manila Railway was later renamed the
Manila Railroad Company in 1906 and became a state-owned enterprise in 1916. By 1923, the MRR elected José Paez as its first Filipino
general manager. By 1939, the MRR had of track throughout Luzon. However, the MRR's network and fleet was destroyed during
World War II. With most of the railroads rebuilt by the 1950s, the MRR initiated its
transition from steam to diesel power. Flagship services with steam ended on August 12, 1956, while regular services ended in 1963. Not long after, the Manila Railroad was reorganized into the Philippine National Railways.
Creation of the PNR and later decline The Philippine National Railways was created in 1964 through the Republic Act 4156 during the presidency of
Diosdado Macapagal. According to the PNR's website, the agency experienced its heyday during its early years in the 1960s and early 1970s, as it served thousands of daily riders in its system and had an expansive commuter rail network in and out of
Metro Manila. However, it did not prevent the agency from suffering heavy losses. In 1983, underfunding has resulted in more cutting of services and the layoff of 1,000 employees which resulted in protests the following year. The decline of the railway became evident as sections of North Main Line closed in stages. In 1984, services were cut short to
Paniqui,
Tarlac due to a bridge collapse. Services were then again cut short to
Caloocan in 1988 during the term of President
Corazon Aquino. When
Fidel V. Ramos succeeded Aquino, he decided to rehabilitate the South Main Line from Tutuban to Legaspi, and appointed Jose B. Dado as the new PNR general manager. A railway system running from Manila to Clark was also set to be constructed in the 1990s, when Ramos signed a memorandum of agreement with
Juan Carlos I of Spain for its construction in September 1994. Another project, called the Manila–Calabarzon Express, sought to rehabilitate the south commuter line in Manila and construct spur lines. However, the two projects were not implemented, with the Clark railway project cancelled due to disagreement on the source of funding.
Contemporary history Rehabilitation The government under the administration of
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo actively pursued the rehabilitation of the Philippine National Railways through various investments and projects designed to revive Philippine rail transport, despite the numerous problems involved. This encompassed three major projects: Northrail, Southrail, and the Northrail–Southrail Linkage, which was designed to connect the two systems. The Northrail project aimed to revive the North Main Line from Caloocan to
San Fernando, La Union. The initial phase involved the upgrading of the existing single track to an elevated dual-track system, converting the
rail gauge from
narrow gauge to
standard gauge, and linking Manila to
Malolos in
Bulacan and further on to
Angeles City,
Clark Special Economic Zone,
Clark International Airport. Although the project was under the North Luzon Railways Corporation (NLRC), the Northrail project aimed to utilize the existing right of way of the North Main Line for most of its route. The Southrail project, conceptualized when the PNR and
Daewoo conducted a feasibility study, involved the rehabilitation of the entire South Main Line from
Calamba to
Lucena, and later to
Legazpi, Albay, with a new extension to
Matnog. The linkage project aimed to connect the two, and ensure compatibility of the signaling and communication systems of the two lines while retaining the rail gauge as narrow gauge despite the planned gauge conversion. On September 14, 2002, a memorandum of understanding was signed by NLRC and China National Machinery and Equipment Group (CNMEG) for the Northrail project. The Northrail project was contracted out by the Arroyo administration in 2003 to China National Machinery and Equipment Corporation (CNMEC) for an original cost of $421 million. This project was estimated to cost around US$500 million, with China offering to provide some US$400 million in concessionary financing. Early construction began in 2006. However, the project would soon be plagued by a series of irregularities involving the foreign contractor, leading to repeated halts and restarts of the project; the cost of the railway later surged to US$2 billion. On July 14, 2009, President Arroyo presided over the launch of
new diesel multiple units from
Hyundai Rotem. This coincided with PNR's rebranding under a new brand name,
PNR Filtrack, although the succeeding administration decided to revert these changes. was completed in 2010. Total reconstruction of rail bridges and tracks, including replacement of the current 35-kilogram (77-pound) track with newer 50-kilogram (110-pound) tracks Nevertheless, rehabilitation of the railway continued, with the San Cristobal bridge in
Calamba, Laguna being rebuilt in May 2011. The Bicol Express train service was inaugurated on June 29, with a maiden voyage between Manila and
Naga, Camarines Sur plus a return trip back to the terminus on July 1. This inaugural trip was marred by the collapse of the embankment at Malaguico, Sipocot. It was discovered before the train passed through and was repaired. The restored Bicol Express intercity service was offered on a daily basis, running mostly during nighttime. Following a derailment incident, the Bicol Express service was indefinitely suspended on October 26, 2012, leaving only the Metro Commuter Line in operation.
Current developments Despite attempts to restart and reconfigure the Northrail project, It involved two lines, NSRP North and South. The north line is analogous to the existing North Main Line; its first phase is the
North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR), a , electrified narrow gauge commuter railway from Tutuban to Malolos funded through
official development assistance (ODA) from Japan. The second phase entailed the rebuilding of the line's long-haul services to La Union. Meanwhile, the south line included the reconstruction of the existing Metro Commuter line from Tutuban to Calamba as well as the rehabilitation of the South Main Line with an extension up to Matnog, Sorsogon and a branch line from Calamba to Batangas. The latter phase of the north line, as well as the entire south line, were to be funded through a
public–private partnership (PPP) scheme. These plans would later be modified by the succeeding government under President
Rodrigo Duterte. The NSCR was extended to
New Clark City. It was also expanded to include the reconstruction of the Metro Commuter line, which was now also to be financed through ODA from Japan. Meanwhile, the planned long-haul portion of the south line was reconstituted as the
South Long Haul project, which would involve the reconstruction of the South Main Line. It was to be funded by China, although this was later withdrawn after several delays and a slow negotiation process with the Chinese government. Furthermore, all new railway lines were now to be constructed using
standard gauge, as opposed to the narrow gauge that is currently in use by PNR. After nearly 20 years, PNR reopened the Metro North Commuter line, and launched the Caloocan–Dela Rosa shuttle line, on August 1, 2018. This would be followed by a steady expansion and reintroduction of rail services to the north, currently reaching to Malabon, which has not seen rail activity for nearly 20 years. A plan to reactivate the Carmona line was bared as well, and the revival of cargo rail from Port Area, Manila to Laguna is now being planned. On November 16, 2018, PNR became a provisional member of
International Union of Railways. On June 14, 2019, PNR became
ISO 9001-certified (ISO 9001:2015) for railway repair, rehabilitation, restoration and maintenance, train control and rolling stock maintenance, station operation and other related services. The certification was announced on October 2, 2019. On February 16, 2023, the Department of Transportation announced a temporary suspension of operations of the PNR system for five years to give way for the construction of the NSCR. Transport Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez said that the temporary suspension would save the government while construction on the new railway line is ongoing. The Alabang–Calamba segment was the first to be closed on July 2, while the Tutuban–Alabang segment followed suit on March 28, 2024. New PUV franchises traversing parallel the PNR route were issued to compensate for the five-year closure. Services in the Bicol Region were expanded on December 23, 2023. ==Operations and services==