MANILA, Philippines – It must’ve felt like a ride to hell for passengers of a Philippine National Railways (PNR) train headed for Manila Tuesday morning after the train derailed in Muntinlupa City.
Superintendent Porifiro Calagan, chief of the Muntinlupa Police, said the accident happened at around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, near the San Simon Compound in Barangay (village) Cupang, Muntinlupa City.
The passenger train with body number 116 was heading north to Tutuban, carrying some 120 people, when it derailed.
“The train derailed after a railing bolt, used to fasten and secure the track to the ground, detached,” Calagan said in a telephone interview.
No one was hurt in the accident, and passengers immediately looked for other modes of transportation after the situation was explained to them.
Meanhwhile, Police Officer 3 Alemar Cabanit, police investigator of the Muntinlupa Traffic Enforcement Unit, said the derailment could have been more serious.
“The driver, who did not give his name to us, saw a gap in the tracks as the railing bolts have been detached,” Cabanit said in a separate interview.
“Apparently, he was able to hit the brakes and the train slowed down, but still, the first wheels of the train reached the gap and derailed,” he added. “If the driver had not hit the brakes, the train would have plowed through the houses in the area.”
Paul de Quiroz, PNR spokesman, said in a radio interview that the PNR immediately sent a team to repair the track. In the meantime, the PNR, he said, terminated in its Sucat station because of the unpassable track.
He suggested the extreme heat caused the bolts to detach.
“According to the initial report of the team which responded to the incident, because of the hot weather, we had what we call a rail expansion, which led the bolts to detach,” De Quiroz said.
However, Cabanit had another theory as to what happened.
“Maybe the railing bolts were stolen,” he said.
Originally posted at 01:59 pm | Tuesday, May 05, 2012