 june 25, 1875 - King ALFONSO XII of Spain promulgates the Royal Decree

directing the Office of the Inspector of Public Works of the Philippines to submit
a general plan of railroad in Luzon

 February 5, 1876 - Don Eduardo Lopez Navarro of Public Works submits his
MemoriaSobre el Plan General de Ferro-Carilles en Isla de Luzon, a very
comprehensive and detailed study of railroad exploitation
 November 1, 1883 – the study of the first railroad project between Manila and
Dagupandone by Antonio delaCamara isappoved
 January 1, 1887 – Royal Decree grants Mr. Edmund Syker the concession to the
original plan as approved
 July 8, 1887 – the concession is transferred to Don Carlos E. Bertodano
representing the Manila Railroad Company (MRRCo)
 July 31, 1887 – construction of the Manila-Dagupan railroad is started
 March 24, 1891 – the first section of the railroad from Manila to Bagbag (about
45 kms) is completed and put to commercial operations
 November 24, 1892 – the entire line from Manila to Dagupan, with a total length
of 195.4 kms, is completed and put into commercial operations
 November 1896 – the Philippine revolution against the Spanish Government
breaks out, interrupting railroad traffic at various points
 August 13, 1898 – the railway operations is resumed only to be interrupted
again one year after when the Philippine-American War breaks out
 April 20, 1900 – the US military authorities returned the railroad to its owner
 July 1, 1902 – the US Congress authorizes the Philippine Government to grant
franchise and concession for the construction of public utilities and services
 December 8, 1902 – the first Railroad Legislation Act (Philippine Commission
Act No. 554) is passed granting the MRRCo the right to construct branch lines
 July 7, 1906 – Philippine Commission Act No. 1510 is enacted giving the
concession of the railway to Speyer and Co. with Mr. Horace Higgins as General
Manager
 February 4,1916 – By authority of Philippine Legislature Act No. 2574, former
Governor General Harrison negotiates the acquisition of the MRRCo by the
Philippine Government
 January 1917 – the acquisition of the MRRCoby the Philippine Government is
consummated and the final transfer of ownership effected
 January 31, 1938 – the first Bicol train is put into operation
 May 8, 1938 – the unified system of railroad from San Fernando, La Union in the
North to Legazpi in the South is formally inaugurated
 1942 – 1945 – the railway comes under the control of the Imperial Japanese
Army
 February 1, 1946 – the US Army restores the control of the railway to the
Commonwealth Government
 1954 – 1956 – Dieselization period of the railroad
 June 20, 1964 – Republic Act No. 4156 is enacted. It changes the corporate
name of MRRCo to Philippine National Railways (PNR)
 August 20, 1971 – Republic Act No. 6366 is passed amending the PNR Charter
 January 26, 1973 – PNR is placed under the Civil Service Commission by virtue
of PD No. 110
 July 3, 1975 – PD 741 is issued, providing for the strengthening of the financial
structure of the PNR and expanding its role and participation in the total
economic and social development of the country
 July 23, 1979 – by Executive Order No. 546, PNR becomes one of the attached
agencies of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, now DOTC
 August 23, 1989 – the Tutuban Station and part of the railroad yard is leased out
for shopping mall development. PNR Management Center transfers to its
Training Center site in Caloocan City and PNR Operations Center transfers to its
railway station in Paco, Manila.
 February 2, 1992 – PNR inaugurates its first modern maintenance workshop in
Caloocan. The workshop can accommodate 88 diesel rail car units at any given
time
 February 22, 1992 – PNR acquires six (6) new DEL units from Japan thru the
OECF loan
 June 1992 – the rehabilitation of the Main Line South Project funded by the
OECF of Japan starts
 June 26, 1992 – PNR acquires an additional ten (10) new DEL units from Japan
thru the OECF loan
 February 21, 1994 – President Fidel Ramos lays the cornerstone for the new
Tutuban Terminal Building
 November 30, 1995 – Super typhoon Rosing heavily damages the tracks and
bridges between Lucena and Naga, suspending train operations. The line is
restored after one year.
 September 28, 2006 – Typhoon Milenyo damages San Cristobal Bridge and
other PNR infrastructure in Quezon and Camarines Sur, resulting in the closure
of line to long distance train operations
 November 30, 2006 – Typhoon Reming further damages the railroad
infrastructure, particularly Travesia Bridge in the Ligao-Guinobatan section, and
most of the station buildings and communication facilities
 December 22, 2008 – efforts start in the Reopening of the Bicol Line Project
 June 15, 2010 – President Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo launches the opening of
San Cristobal Bridge
 June 29, 2010 – Train coming from Manila reaches Naga Station
 From the time the first rail tracks were laid in the Manila-Dagupan Ferrocaril line
in 1891 and the colonial train had its first commercial run, until today when the
Mainline South (Bicol line) is being rehabilitated under much public anticipation,
Philippine trains have been running for 120 years.

At the Tutuban Central Terminal in a bustling district of old Manila, the train
journeys of the Philippine National Railways used to start or stop, to or from the
north or south ends of Luzon, the largest Philippine island.

From the Manila center towards Baguio in the north, the line ended in Damortis,
La Union while south line stopped in Legazpi City in the Bicol Peninsula. From
here to there and back it carried people and their goods, their trade and
livelihood. From here to there it ferried passengers and freight, towards
beginnings and ends, transitions and celebrations.
 The colonial Ferrocaril

 Even near the end of the colonial era, when the Ferrocarril
de Manila-Dagupan was established by royal fiat from the King of Spain, and
when the world was not yet being shrunk by jet flight or electronic media, Luzon
was certainly a formidably sized island to span. In this disjointed stretch of
archipelago on the China Sea and facing the Pacific Ocean, for this one
pioneering railroad in Asia, it was no mean feat. King Alfonso's decree on June
25, 1875 required Inspector of Public Works of the Philippine Islands to submit a
railway system plan for Luzon. This was barely three years after the Cavity
Mutiny, and the subsequent execution of the alleged brains of the mutiny, the
 priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, more known in
history as Gomburza.

This first inkling of a nascent Filipino nationalism coincided more or less with the
very first important geographic linking of small trading points in Luzon. And this,
ironically, by royal decree of the colonial overlord, the last person to appreciate
any restless sense of country in his subjects.
 Five months after royal decree was issued, the public works inspector of the
islands, Don Eduardo Lopez Navarro, submitted his plan. It was titled, Memoria
Sobre el Plan General de Ferrocarriles en la Isla de Luzón, and was promptly
approved. On June 1, 1887, a concession for the construction of a railway line
from Manila to Dagupan was granted to Don Edmundo Sykes of the Ferrocarril
de Manila-Dagupan.
 For some reason, this concession is later transferred to a Don Carlos E.
Bertodano on July 8, 1887, who represented the Manila Railroad Company, or
MRRCo. At the end of the same month, a cornerstone was laid for the building
the Tutuban Station and Filipino workers started the construction of the Manila-
Dagupan railroad.
 First trains run as Revolution brews

 At the end of the preceding year, in December 1886, Rizal

finished writing the Noli Me Tangere, and was having misgivings he might not be
able to publish it and it would remain unread. He was short of funds. His friend
Maximo Viola came to rescue and financed the printing of 2,000 copies for
P300.00 (today's equivalent). Noli was published in Berlin in March 31, 1887 and
shortly Rizal sent a copy to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt.

In 1891 the Ferrocaril opened its first commercial line to Bagbag in Pangasinan.
Rizal had started on his second novel two years after finishing the first and he
completed the second, a sequel titled El Filibusterismo, also in 1891. While Noli
had a decidedly reformist and satirical tone, advocating education as a means of
liberating the people, Fili advocated revolution, despite its ending. It was
published in Ghent, Belgium, in 1891. Rizal dedicated the book to Gomburza.

As the first steel wheels of a locomotive rolled against the Ferrocaril and steam
whistled from engine's metal innards, unrest was brewing in colonial Philippines.
First, Rizal was deported by the Spanish authorities, and soon after, on July 7,
1892, Andres Bonifacio founded the Katipunan, a revolutionary organization. The
next month, Bonifacio led the Katipunan members in tearing out their cedula, and
the Philippine Revolution had begun.
 Rizal was called back en route and was thrown into internal exile in Dapitan. On
December 30, 1896, he was executed. His novels had sparked a revolution.
 Between two colonial overlords
 Barely a year after the opening of the first commercial line to Bagbag, the entire
line from Manila to Dagupan is completed and put to commercial operations. The
total length of the line was 195.4 kilometers. It was inaugurated on November 24,
1892.
 In November 1896, the new north line was operating for at least four years when
the revolutionary forces overtook it and interrupted rail traffic at various points.
 Within two years, the Revolution was relegated to the sidelines when the two
colonial overlords, the Spaniards and the Americans, transacted the Philippines
as if it were a piece of chattel. This was the false Battle of Manila Bay, where the
colonizers surrendered to another colonizer and not to the triumphant Filipinos.
And the infamous Treaty of Paris, which concluded the sale.
 The Revolution had, as it were, eaten its own children. Bonifacio was executed,
together with his brother Procopio, under orders from Emilio Aguinaldo, winner of
infighting in the Katipunan and the more influential or skilled revolutionary. As the
Americans took over, Aguinaldo was in Hong Kong, heading the revolutionary
government in exile.
 Revolucionarios and Americanos ride the Ferrocaril.

 As the Americans dug in with their colonial

ambitions, Aguinaldo declared Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 on the
balcony of his house in Kawit, Cavite. On January 21, 1899 in Malolos, Bulacan,
the insurgent First Philippine Republic was established, with the proclamation of
the Malolos Consitution.

While hostilities between American troops and Filipino revolutionary forces began
in February 4. 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war on the
United States on June 2, 1899.

Using the Manila-Dagupan railway, the Americans mounted their campaigns in

Luzon and pursued Aguinaldo and his forces in Malolos, leading to major battles
there. But the Filipinos themselves used the Ferrocaril transporting soldiers on
wagon train from somewhere in Central Luzon to the battlefront. (Arnaldo
Dumindin, http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com).

It is not known if Aguinaldo made use of the Ferrocaril, either on his way to
Malolos or when he started his trek to his last holdout in Palanan, Isabela with
the Americans on his heels. His capture on March 23, 1901 in Palanan effectively
dissolved the First Philippine Republic.
 The Philippine-American War officially ended on July 4, 1902 although
Katipuneros like Macario Sakay continued fighting, and in Muslim Mindanao the
Moros continued fighting for almost a decade.
 Railroad expansion between world wars

 The early 1900s saw the American colonial government overseeing the
resumption of a more or less normal life for the colony and for its business and
industry. On April 20, 1900, the US military authorities return the railroad to its
owner; two years later, in July 1902, the US Congress authorized the Philippine
Government to grant franchise and concession for the construction of public
utilities and services.
 Within the next decades World War I broke out in Europe but did not directly
affect the Philippines as a colony of the United States. Sometime in this period,
the Ferrocaril de Manila-Dagupan acquires an English name, the Manila Railroad
Company (MRRCo.). In January 1917, the Philippine Government effects the
final nationalization of MRRCo.

Under the commonwealth government ownership, in the halcyon days before the
country is embroiled in the next global conflict, MRRCo. expanded its railroad
network to some 1,140 route-kilometers. On September 13, 1931, the first Bicol
train is put into operation. Before the end of the decade, On May 8, 1938, the
unified system of railroad from San Fernando, La Union in the North to Legazpi in
the South was formally inaugurated.
 World War II is generally considered to have started on September 1, 1939 when
Germany invaded Poland. It had been going on for almost two years in Europe
when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, forcing the United States to join the
War. The Japanese occupy the Philippines one year later and the Imperial Army
takes control of the railway until the close of the War in 1945.
 Devastation and modernization
 Most of the improvements on the rail network are lost during the War. Of the
more than a thousand route-kilometers of railroad before the war, only 452 route-
kilometers were operational after it. On February 1, 1946, the US Army restored
the control of the railway to the Commonwealth Government. On July 4, 1946 the
American Government, never having recognized Aguinaldo's declaration of
Independence in 1898, granted its own version of Philippine independence. For
several years after the War, work was undertaken on what could be salvaged of
the railroad system.
 Despite the post-war challenges, the Philippine railroad entered into the modern
age. From 1954 to 1956, the Manila Railroad Company converted its fleet of
trains from steam into diesel engines. Within the following decade, the Manila
Railroad Company was given a new charter under Republic Act No. 4156, and
the company changed its name to Philippine National Railways.
 What follows would seem to be the golden era of the railroad in the Philippines.
Although the War devastated most of its network, and barely fifty percent was
rehabilitated, during the 60s and early 70s the train and the railroad provided the
transportation backbone of Luzon. It had also become the wealthiest among
government agencies in terms of assets, with such diversified investments and
properties such as hotels, bus lines, and freight services.
 Decline
 In the decade of the 70s government priorities shifted and a pan-Philippine
highway was built. And the railroad was relegated to its own backwaters as the
buses and trucks and the much faster airliners took over. By the late 1990s to the
present decade, PNR trains and the railroad looked battered and reeling from
neglect, mismanagement, and typhoons.
 In 1995, supertyphoon Rosing devastated much of the line between Lucena and
Naga. It was restored one year later. Twice within the decade, on September 28,
1996 to be exact, nature sent Typhoon Milenyo to practically demolish San
Cristobal Bridge and other PNR infrastructure in Quezon and Camarines Sur. A
little more than two months later, on November 30, Typhoon Reming struck, and
brought down Travesia Bridge in the Ligao-Guinobatan section, and most of
PNR's station buildings and communication facilities.
 During the administration of Corazon Aquino, the North Main Line was closed,
with trains unable to reach various provinces in the country. Even the South Rail
was also closed due to typhoons and floods, and the eruption of Mayon
Volcano in 1993, in which ash flows and lava destroyed the rail line and its
facilities.
 A second rehabilitation
 After the devastation from World War II, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and
neglect, a second rehabilitation was attempted by the Gloria Macapagal
administration. It began with the removal and relocation of informal settlers along
the tracks and other PNR right-of-way.
 An ambitious project to revive the North Mainline through foreign loans was
undertaken but it was saddled with issues of anomalous arrangements with
foreign financiers. What has finally been launched into service up to the present
are metro-commuter diesel multiple units (DMUs) purchased from South Korea.
During peak hours, these commuter trains maybe said to be patronized by the
working populace of the Metro Manila more than 100 percent.
 When President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III assumed the reins of government in
2010, he was fully aware of the plight of commuters as much as the state of
public utilities. He vowed to alleviate both, including the PNR and its
infrastructure. With the people's will and the President's support and inspiration,
Philippine trains are running again.