DOST: 40 donated PNR coaches need repair

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will be providing a much-needed boost to the country’s railway fleet by repairing 40 coaches donated from abroad that had long been kept in storage.

Science Secretary Mario Montejo said Thursday that the DOST would use a locally developed technology in refurbishing the coaches from China and Korea.

“We are now developing technology for the trains. The main problem is the motor so we will retrofit the coaches, install a drive system and motor,” Montejo told reporters.

According to him, the DOST will initially fix one train set composed of three coaches and see how the drive system performs.

Once repaired, the additional coaches would complement the fleet of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) which now offers daily trips from Metro Manila to the Bicol region aside from the regular Tutuban to Alabang route and vice versa.

The PNR project is just one of the DOST’s mass transit improvement efforts, including a monorail project at the University of the Philippines (UP).

A 500-meter-long prototype of the elevated UP monorail is expected to start operations in December, just in time for the university’s annual Lantern Parade.

The DOST is also designing a road train as an alternative mode of transport in Metro Manila. Montejo said that talks on the project were ongoing with the Department of Transportation and Communication.

He explained that the road train is a five-coach vehicle which looks similar to the MRT although it runs on rubber wheels and a combination of electric power and fuel-fed generator.

The DOST’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center is spearheading the project’s research and development.