DOTR to prioritize digitization of railway operations

LRT-2 trains. (Photo from Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Tuesday said that it will prioritize the digitalization of trains to improve commuter experience.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said digitization is important to keeping up with technology, for the efficiency of railways.

“Digitizing Philippine railway operations means building a solid and fully connected technology stacked rail sector,” Bautista said during the RAILDX 2024 forum.

“It is imperative that we upgrade areas where bottlenecks in the sector occur and implement proper infrastructure to increase capacity,” he added.

Bautista added that the Japanese government gave a training simulators grant to the Philippine Railways Institute, the railway research department of the DOTr, which can be used for its railway projects.

The PRI is the country’s research and training center, in charge of research and capacity building for railway

Bautista pointed out that digitization efforts must be done for the transport sector to be people-centric.

“We need to embrace this digital evolution towards a people-centric transport sector transformation,” he said.