Alert PNR train driver averts major mishap

An alert driver of a Philippine National Railways (PNR) train averted a serious accident when he immediately applied the brakes after he saw a gap in the railroad tracks in Muntinlupa City Tuesday.

Although his action still failed to stop the front wheels of the train from going off the tracks, no one was injured in the accident that happened at around 10:30 a.m. near San Simon Compound in Barangay Cupang, according to Supt. Porifiro Calagan, Muntinlupa police chief.

The PNR train with body number 116 bound for Tutuban was traveling on the northbound tracks with 120 people on board when it suffered a derailment.

“The train derailed after a railing bolt used to fasten and secure the track to the ground [came loose],” Calagan said in a phone interview.

Police Officer 3 Alemar Cabanit, police investigator of the Muntinlupa Traffic Enforcement Unit, said that the derailment could have had a more serious outcome.

“The [train] driver, who did not give his name to us, saw a gap in the tracks as the railing bolts had become loose,” Cabanit told the Inquirer.

“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.”