Altering the technical and financial specifications of the P285-billion North-South Railway Project (NSRP) South Line at this stage is a waste of time and money, possibly delaying the completion of the facility by two more years, according to a known rail expert.
According to Rene S. Santiago, a railway expert, the government has entered into a policy shift that will just cost it more money and more time, no matter the urgency of the need for a connection between Manila and Albay.
The Manila-Albay line, which was earlier priced at P171 billion by the Bicol Regional Development Council, is now endorsed at P285 billion by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
The new cost covers standard-gauge railroad tracks that could accommodate trains running at 150 kilometers per hour (kph), while the original version only proposed narrow gauge tracks where trains could run at a speed of 75 kph.
Originally, the project was only to be constructed along the Philippine National Railways (PNR) tracks. The existing tracks are currently specified as narrow gauge, which measures 1,067 millimeter (mm).
Changing it to standard gauge will require a wider 1,435-mm stretch, thereby increasing the area covered by the facility.
“Due to these changes, I think it will be delayed by at least two years,” he told the BusinessMirror. “To shift to standard gauge on the same alignment of the PNR will be difficult because the right of way of PNR was on the basis of narrow gauge. To widen it, you have to buy additional right of way.”
Joseline A. Geronimo, the spokesman of the state-run railway system, admitted that the government will have to acquire new easement to make way for the shift in gauge specifications.
“There will be new right-of-way acquisitions, since there might be areas in need of clearing,” she said.
Santiago noted that faster train speeds also entail a change in curvature alignment for the track, which may also cause more delay. Despite this, the PNR General Manager Junn B. Magno assured that the project will still be finished within the term of President Duterte.
“The NSRP is built on top of the existing narrow gauge line. There will just be an overlap in time where the narrow and standard gauge will coexist,” he told the BusinessMirror. “There has been a six-year delay already. It is but proper that we will be two years ahead in terms of capacity building.”
The talks about changing the gauge specifications of the project started two years back.
To recall, the Neda approved the construction and subsequent operation and maintenance of a narrow-gauge railway in February 2015. A year later, the then-Department of Transportation and Communications proposed for the facility to be changed to standard gauge, but was subsequently scrapped by the Neda Interagency Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee, as it was “a waste of time and government resources”.
August last year saw the same committee—with different sets of Cabinet officials sitting as members—approving the gauge-change proposal, thereby increasing the price of the facility by P114 billion.
Now a ‘hybrid’
The project, originally a full public-private partnership deal, was modified to the Duterte administration’s preferred “hybrid” on March 21.
Hybrids are funded partly by the government using taxpayer’s money or official development assistance packages to immediately kick-start construction. The operations and maintenance component of these projects will then be auctioned off to the private sector.
“Through this, we will reduce the procurement period of general consultants and contractor, but it would still be within the law,” Transportation Undersecretary for Rails Cesar B. Chavez told the BusinessMirror, referring to the shift in the project’s procurement mode.
The P285-billion project is set to be officially approved this month, as part of the administration’s “Build, Build, Build” initiative, which will increase infrastructure spending to P8 trillion from 2017 to 2022.
The NSRP was already delayed multiple times due to late bidding announcements and proposed modifications. Bid awarding and contract signing was originally due for the first quarter of 2016. It will be built on two phases. The first phase entails the construction of a 653-kilometer long-haul railway line that will traverse from Metro Manila to Legazpi City, Albay, along with additional commuter lines operating between Tutuban and Calamba.
The second phase is an extended 56-km commuter rail line running between Calamba and Batangas, together with an extension between Legazpi and Matnog.
The whole facility is expected to cut travel time and provide an alternative means of transportation to commuters coming to and from the Bicol region.
No change for commuters
But for Santiago, the increase in cost and speed will be of little benefit to commuters. “There are a lot of changes. You’ll have to close down the PNR section. For commuters, they cannot benefit from the higher speed.”
Despite the higher speed, commuters will experience no difference between narrow and standard gauge tracks, because of the number of stations of the line. “It will just accelerate then stop at the next station, the commuters cannot benefit from higher speed,” Santiago explained.
With Inna Christine Cabel
1 comment
Why is standard gauge tracks able to do 150 and narrow gauge 75?
Narrow gauge is capable of speeds in excess of 150kph.
If the formations are widened to take standard gauge at these speeds, then tilt trains on narrow gauge should be able to do exactly the same..
I call bollocks on this. Just more negativity towards a perfectly good gauge.