ROLLOUT of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) system will signal the revival of the country’s rail sector, Department of
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said on Monday.
Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera has filed a bill creating a single and unified regulatory body or the railway industry “to promote the efficient and effective management of the national railway system.”
The NSCR, a 147-kilometer railway project, broke ground on Monday for the P73.25 billion South Commuter Railway project or the
Alabang-Calamba segment.
“We are forging ahead, overcoming every challenge, because we know meeting the project’s deadlines will lead to a game-changing rail
system that will transform lives,” Bautista said during the groundbreaking rite for three contract packages of the South Commuter
Railway.
He said the rail infrastructure would “open the gates for the renaissance of the railway industry in the Philippines.”
The project, co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank, aims to connect Clark, Pampanga in the north and Calamba, Laguna in the south by linking Metro Manila to its neighboring provinces, reducing travel time from four to four-and a half hours to less than two hours, with an estimated commuter volume of 600,000 daily.
“Residents and communities who have noticed the railway’s massive construction have pinned their hopes on a comfortable, affordable,
safe and efficient commute—a striking contrast to the deteriorating road traffic that has spilled over to north and south of Metro Manila,” Bautista said.
An elevated, double-track and electrified train system will be constructed along the Philippine National Railways’ (PNR) existing
route from Alabang to Calamba, Bautista added.
The PNR suspended operations of the Alabang-Calamba run to give way for the construction of the three contract packages.
The existing tracks from Alabang to Calamba will be relocated to be used at the proposed 565-kilometer-long South Long-Haul project that
will stretch to Bicol region.
The three civil contract packages consist of railway viaduct structures and elevated stations at Alabang and Muntinlupa City; San
Pedro, Pacita, Biñan, and Santa Rosa, and Cabuyao, Banlic, and Calamba, all in Laguna.
Once completed, the NSCR will have 35 stations and run on 51 commuter train sets and seven express train sets.
Filed on June 1, Herrera’s House Bill 8510 proposes to establish the Railways Industry Authority of the Philippines (RIAP) which would serve as the central railway industry regulator of the government.
Herrera noted that the regulatory functions for railways are currently “fragmented” among various rail entities, resulting in
inconsistencies in policies and standards, as well as inefficiencies in the planning and regulatory processes.She said her bill aims to address “the need to rationalize and streamline the regulatory functions over railways.”
“The bill provides for the creation of [RIAP] which will be responsible for the regulations within the Philippine Railway Industry,” she pointed out.
Under Herrera’s bill, the RIAP will be an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for purposes of policy and program coordination but shall independently be governed by its Rail Industry Board (RIB), and operated and managed by its own set of administrative officials and personnel.
The RIAP will also have the power to issue and revoke certification to intending to participate in the railway industry, from planning and project development, construction and implementation, testing, commissioning and handover, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning and disposal.
It will also have the authority to issue and revoke franchise to railway infrastructure and asset operators and/or concessionaires, as
may be delegated by Congress through an enabling law.
It shall also prescribe and enforce railway-industry related standards, rules and guidance, in compliance with domestic statutes
(primarily) and international mandates (as applicable to local setting).
RIAP shall administer, impose, and implement railway-related regulatory requisites in accordance with pertinent statutes; and
formulate prescribe, and enforce unified metrics and key performance indicators to entities involved in the railway industry.
The panel’s board of directors shall be composed of the Secretary and Undersecretary for Railways of DOTr; Secretaries of the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Public Works, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Finance; and one representative from the private sector.
The President shall appoint through the recommendation of the DOTr Secretary an administrator who shall sit as the chairman of the board.
The board shall have the power to recommend an expansion of the membership of the board up to a total of 11 members, upon the approval
of the Office of the President.
The management of RIAP shall be headed by an administrator and shall be assisted by three deputy administrators who shall also be appointed
by the President through the recommendation of the DOTr Secretary.