Rail transport in the Philippines has been running for over 120 years, the first proposal was

on June 25 1875 when King Alfonso XII of Spain promulgated the Royal Decree directing the Office of the Inspector of Public Works of the Philippines to submit a general plan of railroads in Luzon. The plan, which was submitted five months later by Don Eduardo Lopez Navarro, was entitled Memoria Sobre el Plan General de Ferrocarriles en la Isla de Luzn, and was promptly approved. A concession for the construction of a railway line from Manila to Dagupan was granted to Don Edmundo Sykes of the Ferrocarril de ManilaDagupan on June 1, 1887. 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, train journeys of the Philippine National Railways used to commence or terminate, to or from the north or south ends of Luzon, the largest Philippine island. From the center of Manila towards Baguio in the north, the line ended in San Fernando, La Union while the south line stopped in Legazpi City in the Bicol region. To and from these points it carried people and their goods, their trade and livelihood. Most of the improvements on the rail network were 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 Aguinaldos 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. PNR The Philippine National Railways is a state-owned railway system in thePhilippines, organized under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) as an attached agency. Established during theSpanish colonial period, the modern PNR was developed only in 1984. It formerly operated around 479 kilometres of track on the island of Luzon, where most Philippine rail infrastructure is located. Because of this, PNR has become synonymous with the Philippine rail system. PNR aims to link key cities within the Philippines efficiently and to serve as an instrument in national socio-economic development. LRT The Manila Light Rail Transit System is the main metropolitan rail system serving the Metro Manila area of the Philippines. There are two lines to the LRT: LRT-1, called the Yellow Line, and MRT-2, called the Purple Line. Although the system is referred to as a "light rail" system, arguably because the network is mostly elevated, the system is more akin to a rapid transit(metro) system in European-North American terms. The Manila LRT is the first metro system in Southeast Asia, built earlier than the Singapore MRTby three years. Quick and

inexpensive to ride, the LRT serves 605,000 passengers each day. Every day around 430,000 passengers board the Yellow Line, and 175,000 ride the Purple Line. MRT The Manila Metro Rail Transit System has a single line, MRT-3 or the Blue Line. Although it has characteristics of light rail, such as the type of rolling stock used, it is more akin to a rapid transit system. It is not related to theManila Light Rail Transit System, a separate but linked system. One of its original purposes was to decongest Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), one of Metro Manila's main thoroughfares and home to the MRT, and many commuters who ride the MRT also take road-based public transport, such as buses, to reach the intended destination from an MRT station. MRT has been only partially successful in decongesting EDSA, and congestion is further aggravated by the rising number of motor vehicles. The expansion of the system to cover the entire stretch of EDSA is expected to contribute to current attempts to decongest the thoroughfare and to cut travel times. The single line serves 13 stations on 16.95 kilometres (10.5 mi) of line. It is mostly elevated, with some sections at grade or underground. The line commences atNorth Avenue and ends at Taft Avenue (Taft on the map), serving the cities that EDSA passes through: Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Pasay. By 2004 MRT-3 had the highest ridership of the three lines, with 400,000 passengers daily.