History of Railway System in the Philippines

Spanish Regime
Horse Drawn Streetcars
Railway in the Philippines started in 1878, when Leon Monssour, the official of the Department
of Public Works of Spain, submitted a proposal to Madrid for the Manila streetcar system.
Inspired by the same systems in New York and Paris, the proposal envisioned a five-line
network with a central station outside the walls of Intramuros. From Plaza San Gabriel in
Binondo, the lines were to run to Intramuros via the Puerte de Espania (present day Jones
Bridge), to Malate Church, Malacañang Palace, and Sampaloc and Tondo. Though favored by
the Spanish Government, the project had to wait for an investor.
In 1882, the entreprenuer Jocobo Zobel de Zangroniz, together with Spanish engineer Luciano M.
Bremon and Madrid banker Adolfo Bayo, formed the La Compaña de Tranvias de Filipinas, which
operated the concession awarded by the government. However, the Malacañang Line was not built but
was instead replaced by the Malabon Commuter Line. Thus, the first four routes that ran around the city
of Manila are as follows:

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Initially, these railway system used horse drawn carriages.

Steam Powered Trains

The 1890's witnessed the promotion of studies and projects for new railway lines on Luzon and
on other islands in the archipelago, including that of a railway line in Mindanao going to Iligan
City.
The General plan for railways on the island of Luzon, planned by Eduardo Lopez Navarro in 1876 (See
photo to the left), which contemplated the construction of the lines considered of the lines considered
to be most essential. Among these were the Manila – Dagupan (North) line, and the Manila – Taal
(South) line, which were classified as being the first to be built, and as soon as possible (Gardner, 2004).
These areas where the extents of the railway reach are the fertile agricultural lands, so more than
commuters, the trains would bring in goods from the provinces into the Port of Manila.

By 1902, two steam railroads were in operation in the Philippines, both in the island of Luzon. One of
these is operated by the Compaña de las Tranvias de Filipinas that runs from Tondo, Manila to the town
of Tambobong, or Malabon, in the province of Rizal, at a distance of 7 kilometers. This steam line
replaced the supposed tranvia line that was supposed to connect Intramuros to the Malacañang Palace.

The Manila-Tambobong track project valuation is inclusive of locomotives, cars, stations and grounds,
roadbed, and bridges is quite low, which is shown by the low grade and poor condition of construction
and equipment.

The other steam line runs from Manila to Dagupan (Ferrocaril de Manila-Dagupan), in the province of
Pangasinan, for a distance of 196 kilometers, and is reached a distance of 1140 kilometers of operational
line thus highly important and patronized.

Tutuban Station on the Manila – Dagupan Railway Line (Revista de Obras Públicas. 1898), had a
distinct Hispano-Philippine style, was considered one of the greatest works in the railway system. It was
built from masonry, faced with brickwork at ground level, the upper storey being made of wood. It had
galvanized iron roofing and an overhanging verandah, made from the same material, surrounded the
building at first-floor level (Source: Gardner, 2004). This was considered as the central station of the
Philippine Railway Lines

The railway system has 29 stations along its route, which had substantial buildings for the
convenience of their patrons.
Due to long communication line between Madrid and Manila, the development in the Philippines lagged
behind with the wave of the Industrial Revolution and Mercantilism, thus, not much improvements on
the railway system was implemented. La Compaña stopped expanding or improving its system, with just
an average of 10 streetcars per line per day, compared with their previous hourly service with 14 runs in
each direction on the Malabon Line along. Until, the Americans came and governed over the Philippines
in 1898.

American Regime
During the Philippine-American War in the 1900s, the train stations served as bases to be won
and the railways are the battle grounds. The Manila-Dagupan Line was the axis of the war that
advanced in Luzon (Corpuz, 2013).
A line between Manila and Antipolo commenced in 1903, and should be finished in 3 years. The 35-
kilometer line shall have stations at Sampaloc, Santa Mesa, San Felipe Nery, San Juan Del Monte,
Marikina, Cainta and Taytay; and four bridges across the rivers of San Juan, Marikina, Cutcut and
Cayticlin.

Electricity-Powered Tranvia
By March 24, 1903, a 50-year franchise was awarded to the Manila Electric Railway and
Light Company, a New Jersey Company (now more commonly known as Meralco), to
supersede the entire railway system running around Manila - taking over the properties of
La Compaña de las Tranvias de Filipinas. The franchise included to provision of 12 lines
around Manila. In the same year, Baguio was declared as the summer capital of the
Philippines, thus, plans were being centered on providing an electric railway line between
Nagui
lian to Baguio under the directions of Major Kennon.
Eventually, the electric tramway started in 1905 with 65 kilometers span of railway traversing
around the City of Manila. The system used an overhead trolley system using direct current
from 500 to 550 volts.
In 1906, a 9.8-km extension was operational connecting Paco to Fort McKinley and Pasig. This
line was one of the most profitable in the system. In 1907, the Panay Line started its
construction connecting Iloilo City and Roxas City. This was the first railway line that was built
outside of Metro Manila. In 1911, the Cebu Line became operational alongside Panay Line.
By 1913, Meralco has completed 9 out of 12 lines. Meralco continued the tranvia system but already
stopped its expansion. Just like in other cities in many countries, the emergence of automobiles led to
the decline of railways.

Japanese Regime
Destruction of Railways
In 1942, the Manila-Dagupan Line was a witness of the tortures of Filipinos and American
soldiers by the Japanese colonizers. From Bataan, the death march ended in San Fernando,
where the prisoners of war were compacted inside the “Death Trains” bound to Capas, Tarlac.
During WWII, the service deteriorated due to poor maintenance and floods in 1943. In the Battle of
Manila in 1945, the system was totally destroyed, when Manila was considered as the second-most
destroyed city, after Warsaw in Poland. The Cebu Line’s bridges, tracks and Central Station were all
struck by bombs with damage so extensive that the railway never recovered.

Philippine Republic
During the rebuilt of the city, necessity and resourcefulness did not call for the tranvias and
railways, which were put out of business. Meralco concentrated on providing electricity to the
city. Further deterioration in railway tracks and stations led to these circumstances, and
eventually, the PNR network has been reduced to 446 km consisting of part of the PNR north
line and south line.
Advancements in motorization also played a major role in the limited used of railways. The lots
of army jeeps that was available after the war were used in replace of the horse-drawn
streetcars to serve as public transportation system in the large sections of the Metropolis. That
is why many of today’s jeepney routes in Manila, follow the old tranvia lines.
By the 1960s, the steam railway lines extended to San Fernando in La Union, San Jose in Nueva Ecija, the
lakeshore towns of Laguna, Bicol Cavite and Batangas. There were even ambitious plans to extend the
routes up to the ends of Luzon in Cagayan province and Sorsogon. However, these plans were scrapped
by President Ferdinand Marcos in favor of the Maharlika Highway (AH 26) system of national roads,
again a move towards an automobile nation. The map on the left expose the extent of our railway
system during PNR’s glory days. Close-up of the branch lines in the Manila Area and surrounding
provinces. There were lines going to Antipolo and San Mateo in Rizal Provinces and to Cavite City. These
were abandoned because of low ridership (The Urban Historian, 2014).

Moves for Restoration

Following the new belief that the growing metropolitan area can only be sustained by rail, at par
with other advance cities, and that urban transit is the business of the government, the
government started on pursuing the rail transit system under the governance Imelda Marcos
who was the Governor of Metro Manila at the time.
A 1972 study, a system of expressway and railway network, to match that of Tokyo’s, was
proposed in Manila. This included a 135.1 kilometer of subway. In 1977, there was also a
proposal to have a street-level tramcar system along Rizal and Taft Avenue under the
MMETROPLAN study. However, all these studies and proposals was not implemented.
Literally Raised at a Higher Level
It was in 1979, when the decision to build the LRT Line 1, a 15-kilometer fully-elevated railway
line, was actually realized and pushed through, since the public transport was already nearing
its saturation point and still barely meets the commuter demand. So in 1981, the LRT 1 line
started its construction. The government-owned Construction Development Corporation of the
Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corp.) was the sole contractor for the
project. The north-south Monumento-Baclaran route was chosen because it is fairly straight for
most of its length and both of its ends are bus terminals that proceed to the North and South
provinces, respectively. The high-rise department store and classroom building near Feati
University were torn down to give way to Carriedo Station and the tracks going to the Pasig
River bridge, which was the last section to be built. The north and south section of this bridge
were connected in 1985. After 40 years, the tranvia came back as the Metrorail system now
controlled by the Light Rail Transit Authority.
Line 1 currently intersects with Line 3 at EDSA and again with Line 3 (Phase 2) at Monumento.
The line intersects with PNR near Blumentritt.
With the success of LRT 1, the Metrorail Network Study proposed three new metrorail lines 2, 3
and 4 in 1985, all of which connects Metro Manila to the provinces at its peripheries.
Due to the inability to cope with the demand competition with automobile transport, the Manila-
Dagupan Line of the PNR was totally shut down in 1988. This was due to the maintenance
issues with the cars and railways, which limits the efficiency and comfort that it offers to
commuters.
By 1990, the LRT was showing premature aging due mostly to poor maintenance and overloading. In
1998, massive rehabilitation, track improvement, and expansion of stations were made, including
provision of the second generation cars which have air conditioning system. The Panay Line was
eventually close altogether, passenger operations in 1985 and freight operations in 1989.

In 1996, LRT Line 3 took advantage of the undulating ground surface of EDSA, running high
above or low under the ground, avoiding fly-overs and other obstacles. The first phase runs 17.8
kilometers with 12 stations. Line 3 was constructed by the private company, Metro Rail Transit
Corporation (MRTC). In this BLT (build-lease-transfer) project, the railway facilities will be
leased to DOTC for 25 years following construction, and they will then be transferred to DOTC
(Tiglao, 2007).
In 1997, LRT Line 2 started with the Katipunan Station, which is the only underground stop. The
line expanded a distance of 13.8 kilometers with 11 stations, run east to west following Marcos
Highway, Aurora Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Legarda Street and Claro M. Recto
Street. A footbridge along the Araneta Center, Cubao, was constructed in March 2005, linking
LRT Line 2 and MRT Line 3.
Rail-Based Transport System
In 2010, the 23 kilometer span of EDSA has a train service, with completion of the 5.4-km North
Loop. However, the interface to connect LRT Line 1 and LRT Line 3 to work as one single loop
is still unfinished.
In 2012, Manila has a 50-km urban rail line which accommodates less than 10% of the daily trips in
Manila. There are currently 3 light railways in Metro Manila that operates within the metropolis namely
LRT1, LRT2 and MRT3 (Tiglao, et al, 2007). The Philippine National Railway Commuter Line (PNR), on the
other hand, has a 422-km south line to Bicol, with 2 trips/day between Manila and Naga (Santiago, 2012)
which operates in an inter-provincial route (Tiglao, et al, 2007).

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The first railroad in the Philippines was inaugurated on Nov. 24, 1892, nearly two
decades after King Alfonso XII of Spain issued a decree for the establishment of a
railroad system in Luzon.
Construction of the railroad began in 1888. The line covered 195 kilometers from
Manila to Dagupan in Pangasinan.
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The line was founded as Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan. It became Manila Railroad
Co. (MRRCo) during the American colonial rule.
From Manila Central Station in Tutuban, construction moved northward to Tayuman,
ending in Dagupan. The Americans subsequently built a new line from Bulacan to
Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, in 1902.
Shortly after, the rail line was expanded to La Union in the north and Albay in the
south.
In 1964, by virtue of Republic Act No. 4156, MRRCo became Philippine National
Railways (PNR), a government-owned corporation.
PNR was once Luzon’s premier railroad operator, with over 797 km of tracks linking
La Union to Bicol, but decades of neglect, mismanagement and damage from natural
calamities gradually reduced its coverage.
Only a small segment of the PNR line—from Tutuban to Calamba, Laguna—is still
being used.
During the Commonwealth period, sugar cane in Negros was transported by imported
steam locomotives from haciendas to sugar mills. The steam engine locomotives plied
one main line to collect as much cane from around milling districts.
Other lateral lines that were part of a network of sugar farms had their own railroad
systems, albeit with smaller wagons for loading canes.
In 1906, the Philippine Commission authorized PNR to construct and operate rail
lines in other parts of the country.
Panay Railways Inc. (PRI) operated the railroad connecting Iloilo City to Roxas City in
Capiz through a 117-km track. PRI closed shop in the mid-1980s after encountering
financial difficulties.
Sources: Inquirer Archives

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