 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| North Rail, Finally By Antonio C. Abaya Written September 9, 2004 For the Philippines Free Press, September 18 issue Whether it is over-priced or not, as some have claimed, we will have to leave that matter to the expert fiscalizers to figure out. But we must give a tentative vote of approval to the North Rail Project, and a round of applause for President Arroyo for having clinched the deal with a Chinese engineering firm to start construction of this much needed infrastructure, during her recent trip to China. The North Rail Project has been in the talking stage since at least the time of President Fidel Ramos, or about ten years ago. The original plan then was to revitalize the existing tracks of the Philippine National Railways into a high-speed railway, from Caloocan to the former Clark Air Force Base, where a new international airport to replace NAIA was being contemplated, where the Centennial Expo was located (but fizzled out as a scandal-ridden white elephant), and where a multi-media super-corridor was also being discussed as this country�s Big Bang entry into the Information Age. But nothing ever materialized of these ambitious projects except some unfinished struct- ures of the ill-fated Centennial Expo as well as some tourism-oriented facilities that, I understand, are struggling to survive. As for the much-touted high-speed railway, it seems to have foundered on such practical matters as high costs, not least being the cost of relocating tens of thousands of squatters who had taken over the PNR right-of-way. The new, improved North Rail Project under President Arroyo has less ambitious goals and therefore has better chances of success. It will run only the 33 kms to Malolos, and it will not be an ultra-modern high-speed railway, only an ordinary electric commuter train. But when completed, it will be a great boon to the hundreds of thousands of travelers and commuters who at present must endure a daily crucifixion in their cars and buses, packed bumper-to-bumper for hours on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). As a firm believer in rail transport, I have long batted for commuter railways as the best way to decongest Metro Manila, reduce the pollution in the metro areas generated by cars, jeepneys and buses, and save travelers and commuters precious hours of their daily lives. Commuter railways, like the North Rail, will allow middle- and low-income families to live far away from the metro center, where food and housing are cheaper, and still enjoy fast, pollution-free access to jobs, schools, shopping and entertainment in our Big Banana. President Arroyo should now turn her attention to the other twin of North Rail, the moribund South Rail that was supposed to run from the PNR station at Plaza Dilao in Paco, Manila to Calamba, Laguna. Nothing also materialized from this other Ramos-era mega-project. About ten years ago, the contract for South Rail had been awarded to the Ayala Corp. or one of its subsidiaries, which was going to call it the Calbarzon Express. But for some reason that has not been explained, the Calabarzon Express also failed to get rolling. Just as well, perhaps. I had occasion to talk to the American consultant whom Ayala had hired for this project, and, frankly, I was not impressed with his expertise. He was supposed to have had something to do with the Los Angeles commuter rail line (Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing). But Los Angeles, being wedded to the automobile, is the last place that one should get commuter rail line experts from. Try Europe, Manhattan or Tokyo. Ayala�s Los Angeles expert fed me details of the Calabarzon Express, including its proposed timetable. During rush hours, trains were supposed to be coming and going every two minutes. But when I expressed my assumption, that all road-rail crossings would be on separate grades, he said, No, it would be too expensive. What? This means, I argued, that when the Calabarzon Express traverses, every two minutes during rush hours, such road-rail crossings as Bicutan, Pasay Road, Buendia, Vito Cruz, San Andres and Pedro Gil, all crossing road traffic must come to a stop. Yes, he said. Where did Ayala pick up this Los Angeles �expert�? From some North Beach marijuana pot house? For one one-hundredth of his consultant�s fee, I could have given Ayala more practical advice. So it is just as well that Ayala�s Calabarzon Express failed to get rolling. President Arroyo should order a re-bidding for this project as soon as possible and perhaps impose some minimum requirements for common sense. With the North Rail and South Rail fully operational, it would be economically and functionally feasible to ban provincial buses from entering Metro Manila. That would remove 6,000 road-hogging buses from the metro streets. This would go a long way towards decongesting our clogged metro arteries, reducing air pollution, and lessening commuting times both within Metro Manila and in-and-out of the metro areas. But, please, let�s have no more �experts� from Los Angeles. ***** The bulk of this article appears in the September 18, 2004 issue of the Philippines Free Press magazine. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �North Rail, Finally� In times long past there was a NORTH RAIL extending to San Fernando, La Union (with a terminal at Damortis to service Baguio) This stupid independent, nationalistic crooked crazy government simply neglected it. Colonialist built it. Now do you expect me to be a nationalist??? Ross Tipon, [email protected] September 13, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, North Beach is in San Francisco and not Los Angeles and is certainly not an area for pot houses. When you think of marijuana, Berkeley is the place and somewhere out there, smoking pot is legalized for medicinal purposes. Of course the Feds are trying to out-turn rulings of local courts as marijuana is considered a controlled substance. North Beach is more on Italian restaurants and night club dancing now. There is a theater there that features the Beach Blanket Babylon which is a tourist attraction. The area used to have girlie-girlie shows, the most famous was Carol Doda with her ponderous boobs. Close by was the already gone Little Manila where senior Fil-Ams used to live. Not too far away is San Francisco's China town. Been there and had seen them all >>>> Ben S. Simpao, [email protected] San Francisco Bay Area, September 13, 2004 MY REPLY. Thank you for the correction. You are right, of course. I meant Malibu Beach., not North Beach. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww My Comments: Yes, I agree with you that we must give a tentative approval of this type of ambitious project. I also agree that trains are the way to go today - but not in Metro Manila with the narrow unplanned streets, squatters, etc... Look what happened to Avenida Rizal and Quezon Boulevard...it set us back in the dark ages and businesses started closing (no matter what local government says)due to lack of people traffic which was once abundant in these areas. One rule of Marketing, is : put your businesses where there is a lot of people traffic, right? But as I see it, this project will cause a lot of Filipinos becoming disenfranchised and unemployed from their meager livelihood as (Bus Drivers & Conductors, Jeepney Drivers, FX Drivers etc...) and all for the sake of modernization and decongesting Metro Manila? Does anyone think this is the solution? Look at all the delapidating eyesores like the existing : LRT's, MRT's , useless color coding schemes, inept traffic policemen and MMDA personnel which I beleive are the real causes of congestions in the metropolis (with these projects,the roads became smaller due to the posts of these rail trains, the cars became abundant due to coding & the traffic enforcers - my gosh!- don't really know how to do their job, instead of them esing the traffic, they are the cause of the traffic). Is the government trying to get the people to stop using their cars and use the Trains? People decided to buy additional cars due to the color coding of Mr. Binay when he was MMDA Chairman, so what makes the govenment think that people will use these trains? Ban the cars? Can they guarantee the users will not get robbed, mugged in these trains? Don't you think that they will be safer in their own cars or on the roads due to these rampant incidences now happening in the in the trains, buses and jeepneys, even when walking in the metropolis? It just ain't safe anymore, people! Didn't GMA supposedly promise to generate 10M jobs in 6 years? What will the people, who will eventually lose their jobs do, when these trains start rolling? Drive them? Ironic isn't it. Electric Trains? With the cost of electricity today...will it still be feasible to run it and will people be able to afford it, what with no increase in their meager salaries? Is this all for "palabas" or "Pogi points"...Will MERALCO cash-in on this scheme? Payback time? Your guess is as good as mine on this one. It is my assumption and belief that the only way to decongest the metropolis is to get "industries" out of the Metropolis. The government must give enough incentives to get them out of Metro Manila and proceed to the Visayas and Mindanao provinces and the upper Luzon. But again, to be able for this to succeed, government must be able to provide and guarantee safety with concrete security measures (which is the biggest problem we have now)and maybe by doing this, "investors" might want to give the Philippines a second look. Take out "red tape" in government agencies and maybe, we might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Lastly, as I had said in my previous comments on this so-call North Train project, all the bidders (as mentioned in the news) quoted the amount of around US$1B and here comes China which cut the price to 50%? Isn't it fishy that a new player slashes the majority bidded prices by half? Will it finish the project with this price? Is Our Government the guarantor again on payments of this project? UTANG NANAMAN! Or is this a BOT type of a project just like the Ninoy Aquino III Airport wherein our Government waited for it to be completed and then decided that the bid was fraudulent from the beginning and declared it Null and Void (by no other than our Supreme Court)in favor of the Government and is now rotting and dilapidating (I saw it from the plane I was riding recently) due to a case filed by the Winning Bidder - Contractor with the "World Court" for damages claims against our government and our government can't use it now! Hay naku! Jose G. Genato, [email protected] September 13, 2004 MY REPLY. You reject an electric commuter rail system because the price of electricity keeps on going up. But haven�t you heard, the price of diesel and gasoline have also been going up and will continue to go up with the price of imported petroleum. At least 47% of our power needs are being or will soon be met by local sources: hydro, geothermal and the natural gas of Malampaya. Unless we discover large deposits of oil, 100% of our fuel needs for cars and buses will continue to be met by imports. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww TY, Mr. Abaya. Am looking forward to the start, completion, and success of the project. Am from Malolos. Lydia Echauz, [email protected] President, Far Eastern University September 15, 2004 |
| wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, You are correct. We need the railways. I am Jose Leonidas (51) and have been an advocate of using train which is the answer to mass transportation needs of this 82 million Filipino. My dream is not just Caloocan and Malolos train system. My dream is that this archipelago is interconnect with railways system. Imagine a train tunnel with vehicular transport system from Luzon to Mindanao. The ordinary working masses cannot afford to buy even a second hand car. The trains are just the solution to this need. We need to start now. If not now, when? As to the North Rail, I hope the design on level crossing should be either the train goes up the crossing or the road crossing flies up the railroad crossing. This ensures high speed trains. Furthermore, trains should have tilting capability to compensate for the centrifugal force when it curves. Let us influence the policy makers with tsunami of information on the logic of railways. AL Jose Leonidas, [email protected] Friends of Philippines Railways November 26, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |