Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled trains or multiple units, using electric or diesel propulsion. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.
Inter-city rail services are express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance commuter rail trains within one city area nor slow regional rail trains stopping at all stations and covering local journeys only. An inter-city train is typically an express train with limited stops and comfortable carriages to serve long-distance travel.
The Philippine National Railways (PNR) is a state-owned railway company in the Philippines which operates one commuter rail service between Laguna and Quezon, and local services between Sipocot, Naga and Legazpi in the Bicol Region. It is an attached agency of the Department of Transportation.
Pamplona, officially the Municipality of Pamplona, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 39,333 people.
Rail transportation in the Philippines is currently used mostly to transport passengers within Metro Manila and provinces of Laguna and Quezon, as well as a commuter service in the Bicol Region. Freight transport services once operated in the country, but these services were halted. However, there are plans to restore old freight services and build new lines. From a peak of 1,100 kilometers (680 mi), the country currently has a railway footprint of 533.14 kilometers (331.28 mi), of which only 129.85 kilometers (80.69 mi) are operational as of 2024, including all the urban rail lines. World War II, natural calamities, underspending, and neglect have all contributed to the decline of the Philippine railway network. In the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, the Philippines has the lowest efficiency score among other Asian countries in terms of efficiency of train services, receiving a score of 2.4, and ranking 86th out of 101 countries globally. The government is currently expanding the railway network up to 1,900 kilometers (1,200 mi) by 2022 through numerous projects.
A limited express is a type of express train or express bus service that stops at fewer locations compared to other express services on the same or similar routes.
Bicol express, known natively in Bikol as sinilihan, is a popular Filipino dish which was popularized in the district of Malate, Manila, but made in traditional Bicolano style. It is a stew made from long chili peppers or small chili peppers, coconut milk/coconut cream, shrimp paste or stockfish, onion, pork, ginger and garlic. The dish was termed by Laguna resident, Cely Kalaw, during a cooking competition in the 1970s in Malate, Manila. The name of the dish was inspired by the Bicol Express railway train that operated from Tutuban, Manila to Legazpi, Albay. The widely-known name for this dish in the Bicol Region of the Philippines was identified as gulay na may lada, which is currently one of the vegetarian variants of the Bicol express dish. As time progressed, variants of the Bicol express dish expanded with seafood, beef, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, and other versions. The preparations for these dishes vary according to the meat present within the dish. In terms of nutritional value, the original version of the Bicol express dish is beneficial in protein but unhealthy in regards to its high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol. The dish has moved into food processing and commercial production so that it can be sold conveniently and stored for a longer period of time.
Pasay Road station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is one of two stations in the line to have its own access road. It is named after Pasay Road, the old name of the Makati section of the adjacent Arnaiz Avenue.
Sucat station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was originally established by the Manila Railway Company in 1908 as part of the construction of the original Southern Lines to the province of Tayabas, since renamed Quezon. It is also the southernmost area on the PNR Metro Commuter Line to be upgraded to double track as a result of a proposed electrification scheme in 1978.
Naga station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Naga, Camarines Sur, Philippines. It is a major station on the line, serving as the main terminus for the Bicol Commuter, Bicol Express train services and the end station for the Isarog Limited Express. The station is considered the largest of all Philippine National Railways (PNR) stations in Southern Luzon. It houses the regional offices of PNR that covers the total jurisdiction over Southern Luzon.
Lucena station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Lucena, Quezon, Philippines.
Legazpi station is the current railway terminus of the South Main Line located in Albay, Philippines. It is also the terminus for the Legaspi-Tabaco branch line. The station is currently used for the Bicol Commuter rail.
The PNR 900 class is a class of 21 GE Universal Series diesel–electric locomotives operated by the Philippine National Railways since 1973. The locomotives comes with three different types: U14CP (1973), U14C (1979), and U15C (1991). Initially used for long-distance express services throughout Luzon, they were relegated to hauling commuter trains within Metro Manila, a task previously done by PNR's diesel multiple units fleet. This was further exacerbated by the closure of the PNR South Main Line's intercity section in 2012 after an accident in Sariaya, Quezon.
The KiHa 35 series (キハ35), along with the similar KiHa 30 and KiHa 36 series, are Japanese diesel multiple unit (DMU) train types formerly operated by the Japanese National Railways (JNR) and JR Group of companies, and later operated by the private railway operators Kanto Railway and Mizushima Rinkai Railway. They were built from 1961 until 1966, and were widely used around Japan. Most units were withdrawn in 2012 with the exception of those used by private railways, which remained in service. Some were later operated by Philippine National Railways on Bicol Commuter Train since 2015, and on Metro South Commuter services since 2017.
The PNR South Main Line is one of the two trunk lines that form the Philippine National Railways' network in the island of Luzon, Philippines. It was opened in stages between 1916 and 1938 by the Manila Railroad. Services peaked in the 1940s until the late 1960s, when the system started to decline. Since 1988, it was the only functioning inter-city rail after its counterpart to the north, the North Main Line, was closed. The intercity section of the line in Laguna, Quezon and the Bicol Region was then closed and reopened repeatedly between 2004 and 2014 due to a combination of declining ridership and was closed since then. Currently, only a little more than half of line is operational as the line currently serves two commuter services, namely the Inter-Provincial Commuter from San Pedro to Lucena and the Bicol Commuter regional rail service between Sipocot, Naga Camarines Sur and Legazpi Albay, following the closure of the main line, the PNR Metro Commuter Line between Tutuban station and Laguna.
College Station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
The Manila Railroad 45 class of 1919 were twenty-one 4-6-0Ten-wheeler steam locomotives. Twenty locomotives were built by American light duty locomotive manufacturer H.K. Porter, Inc. between 1919 and 1921 for the Manila Railroad Company (MRR). The so-called Porters were the most successful steam locomotive class in Philippine service. They carried express trains for passengers as well as short-range maintenance trains for 70 years and served both the MRR and its successor, the Philippine National Railways. However, like all tender engines from the Manila Railroad era, the last locomotive was scrapped in the 1990s without a single unit preserved.
The Manila Railway 100 class of 1906 was a class of five 4-4-2 Atlantic type steam locomotives built by the North British Locomotive Company for the Manila Railway Company, a predecessor of the Philippine National Railways. They were the flagship locomotives of the Manila Railway from the late 1900s to the 1910s and were the first class of tender locomotives to operate in the Philippines. They hauled the Baguio Special, an express service between Manila and Baguio via Damortis station in Rosario, La Union.
The PNR South Long Haul, also known as the PNR Bicol, is a stalled inter-city rail line project in southern Luzon, Philippines. It is part of the larger Luzon Rail System, a network of long-distance standard-gauge lines being built by the Philippine National Railways throughout Luzon. It is one of the two lines that will reconstruct the historic PNR South Main Line, along with the electrified North–South Commuter Railway South section to Calamba, Laguna.
