DAVAO CITY – Commuter’s group Train Riders Network (Tren) says the gross neglect on the part of the government caused the derailment of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) afternoon Tuesday.
At 4:00 pm Wednesday, a Hyundai Rotem DMU train heading southbound derailed along the segment between EDSA and Nichols stations. Two coaches of the three-car train set turned over and were derailed. Eighty passengers were reportedly injured.
Tren expressed its sympathy to those who were injured and traumatized by the incident.
James Relativo, spokesperson of Tren, said PNR’s derailment is not the first time citing the incident on August 2013 when the MRT crashed through a barrier in Taft Avenue leaving passengers injured.
“We believe that the root cause of the derailment is due to the decades of government neglect of the PNR. The line receives very minimal investment and subsidies from the national government,” Relativo said.
“Most of the funds made available barely cover the operation of the line, leaving no funds for expansion, modernization and rehabilitation and resulting in its current motley state,” said Relativo.
Relativo said while the PNR sought a P11.12-billion budget from the government last year to repair existing trains and upgrade aging facilities along its dilapidated Bicol Line, the government only gave the line a measly P2.2 billion for its budget this 2015.
According to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), the estimated cost of fully rehabilitating the PNR would be at P300 billion.
