Pambansang Daang Bakal ng Pilipinas

PAMBANSANG DAANG BAKAL NG PILIPINAS (Philippine National Railways)

Pambansang Daang Bakal ng Pilipinas

by Frederick Deserva

The Philippine National Railways (Filipino: Pambansang Daangbakal ng Pilipinas),

commonly abbreviated as PNR, is a state-owned railway operator in the Philippines, operating an extensive railway line on the island of Luzon.

PNR began operations on June 26, 1875 as the Ferrocaril de Manila-Dagupan, during the Spanish colonial period, and later becoming the Manila Railroad Company (MRR) during the American colonial period.

Persistent problems with informal settlers in the 1990s contributed further to PNR's decline. In 2006, Typhoons Milenyo and Reming caused severe damage to the network, resulting in the suspension of the Manila-Bicol services.

In 2007 the Philippine government initiated a rehabilitation project aiming to remove informal settlers from the PNR right-of-way, revitalize commuter services in Metro Manila, and restore the Manila-Bicol route as well as lost services in Northern Luzon. In July 2009, PNR unveiled a new corporate identity and inaugurated new rolling stock.

The following photographs in this project were shot around 2015-2017. My experienced in riding and shooting the in PNR is such a great opportunity to document it's rotting & surviving condition, with the current PNR renovation and changes, these images are now just a memory of what the old Riles is used to be.

Š Frederick Deserva 2017