PNR Metro Commuter Line

PNR Metro Commuter Line
	A PNR Class 900 (GE U14C/U15C)diesel locomotive hauling a former JR East 203 series set arriving at Pasay Road station
Overview
Native name	Pambansang Daambakal ng Pilipinas
Type	Commuter rail
Status	Operational (Metro South Commuter/Metro North Commuter) ; Discontinued (Caloocan-Meycauayan, Carmona Line)
Locale	Metro Manila
Termini	Tutuban; Calamba
Stations	27 stations
Daily ridership	100,000
Website	http://www.pnr.gov.ph
Operation
Opened	November 24, 1892
Owner	Government of the Philippines
Operator(s)	Philippine National Railways
Depot(s)	Tutuban ; Caloocan
Rolling stock	Hyundai Rotem DMUs ; KiHa 350 series ; KiHa 52 series ; 203 Series ; 900 Series Locomotives ; 2500 Series Locomotives
Technical
Line length	28.09 km (17.45 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in); 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge (planned)
Operating speed	40-90 km/h
Route map
	Malabon
	Caloocan
	Caloocan
	Manila
	Manila
	Makati
	Makati
	Taguig
	Taguig
	Parañaque
	Parañaque
	Muntinlupa
	Muntinlupa
	San Pedro
	San Pedro
	Biñan
	Biñan
	Santa Rosa
	Santa Rosa
	Cabuyao
	Cabuyao
	Calamba

Inside a PNR Hyundai Rotem DMU Metro Commuter train

A PNR 900 class locomotive and a Hyundai Rotem DMU

The Philippine National Railways Metro Commuter Line is a commuter rail line operated by the Philippine National Railways, stretching from Tondo, Manila to the southern edge of Metro Manila. Presently, there are 27 railway stations.^[1] The current line is colored orange on most maps.

The current line runs in a general north-south direction from Tondo to the Province of Laguna, linking the cities of Manila, Makati, Taguig, Parañaque and Muntinlupa. Passengers can transfer to the LRT Line 1 at Blumentritt, to LRT Line 2 at Santa Mesa and to MRT Line 3 at EDSA.

The Metro Commuter Line has known for many names including PNR Metro South Commuter Line, shortened to Metro South Commuter (For the remaining active service), Metro Manila Commuter Service, Metro Commuter, Orange Line, Metrotrak, Metrotren, and Commuter Express or Commex. The orange color of the line dates back to its major upgrade in the 1970s.

History

The PNR commuter service started in April 6. 1970, starting at Manila North Harbor, with stops at Tutuban, Blumentritt, Santa Mesa, Paco, Pasay Road (Culi-Culi), Gelmart (Philippine-American Embroidery), Sucat, Alabang and ends at Biñan, Laguna. The commuter service between Tutuban and San Pedro, Laguna started in November 30, 1972, it was further extended up to College station in Los Baños and Carmona, Cavite in 1974. The double tracking also lead to the construction of new stations such as Vito Cruz and Buendia in 1975, España, FTI and Bicutan in 1977 and Laon-Laan in 1978. In the 1990s an extension northwards of the service up to Meycauayan, Bulacan materialized only to be discontinued later on.

Route

The existing operational Metro Commuter Line is predominantly aligned and shares the path of the South Main Line or SouthRail which uses a dedicated right of way of its own. It terminates at Calamba Station despite having rails further towards Sorsogon, but few trains stop at Sta. Rosa and Calamba Stations further to the south. Inter-provincial services such as the Bicol Express and Mayon Limited are not running as of 2015, but plans to revive the services have been presented, especially Bicol Express will hopefully open by January or February 2017, at least as far as Naga, Camarines Sur.

Legend

Trains stop at stations marked "●".
Trains pass those marked "｜".
Only morning and evening trains stop at stations marked "◇".
closed stations
MSC (TU-LA) — Metro South Commuter (Tutuban to Calamba)
MSC (TU-CAL) — Shuttle Service (Tutuban to Caloocan)
MSC (CAL-FTI) — Shuttle Service (Caloocan to FTI)
SS (TU-SU) — Shuttle Service (Tutuban to Sucat)
SS (SA-SU) — Shuttle Service (Santa Mesa to Sucat)
PT — Premiere Train

Name	Distance (km)			Services						Transfers	Location
	Between stations	From Tutuban	From Caloocan	Metro South Commuter			Shuttle		PT
	Between stations	From Tutuban	From Caloocan	MSC (TU-LA)	MSC (TU-CAL)	MSC (CAL-FTI)	SS (TU-SU)	SS (SA-SU)	PT
Acacia	—	—	—		Planned	Planned				none	Malabon City
Caloocan	—	—	—		●	●					Caloocan City
10th Avenue	1.460	—	1.460		●	●
5th Avenue	1.380	—	2.840		●	●
Solis	1.460	—	4.300		●	●					Manila
Tutuban	—	0.000	—	●	●	｜	●		●	LRT-2
Blumentritt	2.730	2.730	5.530	●		●	●		●	LRT-1
Laon Laan	1.090	3.820	—	●		｜	●		｜	none
España	0.700	4.520	7.320	●		●	●		●	none
Santa Mesa	1.970	6.490	9.290	●		●	●	●	●	LRT-2
Pandacan	1.470	7.960	—	●		｜	●	●	｜	none
Paco	1.500	9.460	12.200	●		●	●	●	｜
San Andres	0.960	10.420	—	●		｜	●	●	｜
Vito Cruz	0.600	11.020	—	●		｜	●	●	｜
Buendia	1.260	12.280	—	●		｜	●	●	●		Makati City
Dela Rosa	0.120	12.400	15.320	●		●	｜	｜	｜
Pasay Road	0.940	13.220	—	●		｜	●	●	●
EDSA	1.080	14.300	17.150	●		●	●	●	●	MRT-3
Nichols	3.600	17.900	—	●		｜	●	●	｜	none	Taguig City
FTI	0.700	18.600	21.400	●		●	●	●	｜		Taguig City
Bicutan	2.300	20.900	—	●			●	●	｜		Parañaque City
Sucat	4.120	25.020	—	●			●	●	●		Muntinlupa City
Alabang	3.673	28.693	—	●					●
Muntinlupa	3.320	32.013	—	◇					｜
Tunasan	—	—	—	｜					｜
San Pedro	3.361	35.374	—	◇					●		San Pedro City, Laguna
Pacita MG	2.176	37.550	—	◇					｜		San Pedro City, Laguna
Golden City 1	1.170	38.720	—	◇					｜		Biñan City, Laguna
Biñan	1.044	39.764	—	◇					●		Biñan City, Laguna
Santa Rosa	4.042	43.806	—	◇					●		Santa Rosa, Laguna
Golden City 2	1.954	45.760	—	｜					｜		Santa Rosa, Laguna
Cabuyao	1.660	47.420	—	◇					｜		Cabuyao City, Laguna
Mamatid	5.530	52.950	—	◇					●
Banlic	1.850	54.800	—	｜
Calamba	1.338	56.138	—	◇							Calamba, Laguna
Stations in italics are either under construction, not yet operational, or have been closed.

Rolling stock

Four types of rolling stock currently runs on the PNR Metro Commuter line: the Hyundai Rotem Diesel Multiple Units, the locomotive hauled JR 203 series Electric multiple units, the former Kantō Railway KiHa 350 series and the former JR KiHa 52 Diesel multiple units. The line is also being served by the JR Kiha 59 (Kogane) unit which is called as the "Premiere Train" service which runs from Tutuban up to Mamatid. Due to the opening of the Calamba Station building, the Premiere Train services were currently suspended until further notice. After a derailment in April 2015 the train services were suspended for nearly three months.

Rolling stock	In service	Out of service	Scrapped
Hyundai Rotem DMU	9	9	0
KiHa 350	4	2	0
KiHa 52	3	4	0
KiHa 59	0	3	0
203 series EMU	25	15	0
900 series locomotives	9	4	8
2500 series locomotives	1	2	40
5000 series locomotives	4	6	0

The station while no trains are passing that time.

Laong Laan railway station

Services

Current

Metro South Commuter

The Metro South Commuter (also known as MSC) is the main and only train service currently being offered by PNR that run along the Metro Commuter Line. The trains that are currently being used for this service are the 900 Series Locomotives, PNR 2500 Series Locomotives, 203 series ex-Joban Line Local EMUs donated by JR East, and the South Korean Hyundai Rotem DMUs. The trips are reduced upon announcements. On December 2, 2014, the new Calamba Station was inaugurated. Later that night, the MSC1907 was extended up to the said station. The MSC1937 was also extended, but only up to Sta. Rosa Station. As of July 2015, MSC services run between Tutuban and Alabang.^[2] As of October 2016, the trips (morning and night) only reach Mamatid.

Sangangdaan-FTI service (Metro North Commuter)

In August 1, 2018, Philippine National Railways reinstated commuter train services to Caloocan station, as preparation for the Tutuban-Malolos railway, the first section of the railway line that will end at Clark in Pampanga. The line was reopened after the line was repaired due to water intrusion. According to claims by the Department of Transportation, it will be the most efficient way of travel between Caloocan and Makati. Services will continue operating until the completion of the Tutuban-Malolos Railway. ^[3] Originally running from 10th Avenue to Dela Rosa, it was upgraded into the Caloocan-FTI shuttle service on September 10 (officially called the Sangangdaan-FTI shuttle service).

Past

Caloocan-Meycauayan Section

During the Metrotren era, Commuter Services was extended Northwards to Meycauayan, Bulacan on May 10, 1990, with the Caloocan to Meycauayan Extension of the services before it was abandoned in 1997 due to maintenance costs and inadequate services.

A part of this line was attempted to be revived, namely the stations up to Caloocan during the latter half of the 2000s, with the rest to be revived as part of the future Northrail. The DOTr reactivated the stations along Solis, Asistio, 10th Avenue and Caloocan, which was disturbed due to the construction of NLEX Segment 10.1, for the Caloocan-Dela Rosa shuttle as above-mentioned, and there are plans to rebuild the old lines to Malabon City to return full service revenue train stops to the city after many years.

Carmona Line

A spur line towards Carmona was opened on April 1, 1973 to serve the residents of the San Pedro-Carmona Resettlement Project, unfortunately, it fell into disuse, number of trips decreased and subsequently was abandoned. Plans are underway to renovate the line for a potential 2019 reopening, first for a 5th shuttle service and then towards a future return to revenue train services in the line. ^[4]

Shuttle Service

The Shuttle Service was introduced on January 27, 2014. This service uses Hyundai Rotem DMUs and JR KiHa 52. There are 4 routes of the Shuttle Service, where trains stop at all stations along the routes.

This train service was removed last May 23, 2014 to give way to maintenance servicing of the rolling stocks. Another reason was the 3 consecutive weeks of delays and cancellations of some train trips. The service offically returned to the line on August 1, 2018, this time, to serve from the Asistio Avenue railway station up to the Dela Rosa railway station using a JR KiHa 350 DMU. An additional service, opening on September 10, operates from the reopened Caloocan railway station to the FTI railway station.

Premiere Train

The Premiere Train was a special MSC service that operates from Monday to Friday, except holidays. The train being used in this special service was the KiHa 59 "Kogane" train set, which is also from Japan. The train used to stop at selected stations only, namely Tutuban, Blumentritt, España, Sta. Mesa, Buendia, Pasay Road, EDSA (flagstop), Sucat, Alabang, San Pedro, Biñan, Santa Rosa, and Mamatid. The service had 4 trips: MSC501, MSC702, MSC1555, and MSC1802.

The service is currently suspended, due to the inauguration of the station building of Calamba (December 2014) and due to the repairs of the trainset being used for this service.

Plans

Reconstruction

As part of the DuterteNomics ("Build-Build-Build") infrastructure program by Rodrigo Duterte, the Metro Commuter Line will be reconstructed as an electrified standard-gauge full double-track line, and will serve Los Baños. On September 12, 2017, the National Economic and Development Authority approved the construction of the newer line, as part of the longer Long-haul Railway that will connect to Legazpi and Matnog, and Batangas City.^[5]^[6] Funding for the project, which costs ₱131 billion, is provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and is expected to serve 300,000 passengers a day at its initial year of operation.^[5]

References

↑ "Metro commuter - Philippine National Railways". Philippine National Railways. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-26.
↑ "PNR Official Site - Northbound & Southbound Timetable". Philippine National Railways. 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
↑ "IN PHOTOS:After 20 years, PNR reopens Caloocan-Makati Line". The Philippine Star. August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
↑ https://www.facebook.com/DOTrPH/posts/1186365421502592
1 2 Dela Paz, Chrissie (September 13, 2017). "NEDA Board approves Manila subway, longest railway". Rappler. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
↑ Leyco, Chino S. (September 13, 2017). "NEDA Board approves big infra projects". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

This train is bound for Tutuban is about to leave Santa Mesa station.

A newly painted DMU at Santa Mesa

External links

The PNR Metro Commuter Line - Timetables

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[MCLine-1] "Metro commuter - Philippine National Railways". Philippine National Railways. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-26.

[2] "PNR Official Site - Northbound & Southbound Timetable". Philippine National Railways. 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2016-09-05.

[3] "IN PHOTOS:After 20 years, PNR reopens Caloocan-Makati Line". The Philippine Star. August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.

[4] ttps://www.facebook.com/DOTrPH/posts/1186365421502592

[Rappler,sept17-5] 1 2 Dela Paz, Chrissie (September 13, 2017). "NEDA Board approves Manila subway, longest railway". Rappler. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

[6] Leyco, Chino S. (September 13, 2017). "NEDA Board approves big infra projects". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved September 15, 2017.