GRACE POE ON PNR DERAILMENT

The derailment of the PNR train from its station in Paco, Manila should serve as a wake-up call on its safety management and enforcement.

We have had incidents of derailment of PNR trains every year, and it's simply unacceptable. Whether it's the MRT, LRT or the PNR, we don't want to see passengers getting offloaded and made to walk along the rails.

Let's have a public transportation system that will bring the people to their destination and back to their homes safe and unscathed.

We are calling on the Department of Transportation to look into this incident and seriously enforce strict inspection and maintenance of the PNR trains, considering that a number of them are already old.

The DOTr has been allocated a budget for this in the 2018 national budget.

The administration has lined up ambitious infrastructure projects involving railways in the next few years. While we embark on these, let us show the public that the current PNR fleet is reliable, comfortable and safe.