Philippine National Railways

Dateline June 26, 1875: The Philippine National Railway (PNR) began operations as the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan, during the Spanish colonial period, and later becoming the Manila Railroad Company (MRR) during the American colonial period. It became the Philippine National Railways on June 20, 1946 by virtue of Republic Act No. 4156.

Passengers posing in front of the "Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan" (ca 1885)

The Philippine National Railways or PNR, is a state-owned railway company in the Philippines, operating a single line of track on Luzon. As of 2010, it operates one commuter rail service in Metro Manila and a second in the Bicol Region. PNR restored its intercity service to the Bicol region in 2011. The Bicol Express runs on a daily basis between Manila and Naga.

PNR used to operate over 479 km (298 mi)^[of route from La Union up to Bicol. However, continued neglect in past decades reduced PNR's efficiency and railroad coverage. Persistent problems with informal settlers in the 1990s contributed further to PNR's decline.In 2006, Typhoons Milenyo and Reming caused severe damage to the network, resulting in the suspension of the Manila-Bicol services.
In 2007 the Philippine government initiated a rehabilitation project aiming to remove informal settlers from the PNR right-of-way, revitalize commuter services in Metro Manila, and restore the Manila-Bicol route as well as lost services in Northern Luzon. In July 2009, PNR unveiled a new corporate identity and inaugurated new rolling stock
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Plans to rehabilitate and expand the railway network have been made by various administrations, including the removal and relocation of informal settlers along the tracks and other PNR right-of-way. . And presently, Pres. Noynoy Aquino's vision is posted in the PNR website.

“Kung maitatayo ang minumungkahi sa ating mga railway system, bababa ang presyo ng bilihin. Mas mura, mas mabilis, mas maginhawa, at makakaiwas pa sa kotong cops, at mga kumukotong na rebelde ang mga bumibiyahe.”

Almost 150 years later, the Pnoy government said that $3-billion Clark-Metro Manila Bullet Train Project will be constructed under Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme. It will shorten travel time from Clark to Manila, and vice versa, to only 45 minutes. The bullet trains’ planned stopovers are Balintawak or near TriNoMa or SM North in Quezon City; Manila like Dimasalang or University of Sto. Tomas; and Makati at Buendia Avenue.