2020: The Start of Service for Newly Acquired Trains in the Philippines

February 20, 2020

Operations began for the first two sets of four-car 8100 class trains that had been recently acquired by the Philippine National Railways (PNR) as part of its efforts to improve commuter services in Metro Manila (the National Capital Region), the largest metropolitan area of that Southeast Asian archipelagic country. These diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains were among those that had been ordered in 2018 from the Indonesian rolling stock manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (PT INKA) for PNR’s use.

The inauguration of this first batch of DMU trainsets for service on the PNR Metro Commuter Line took place at Tutuban station, the central terminus of the PNR network in the country’s capital city of Manila. The public officials jointly cutting a ceremonial ribbon for this event included Arthur “Art” Planta Tugade (born in 1946), who served as secretary of transportation of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022.

Each of the PNR 8100 class DMUs — the first two of those trainsets as well as others that were subsequently acquired and deployed — can accommodate as many as 1,000 passengers. Other key features of these trains include obstacle detectors designed to keep passengers from getting stuck between doors; polycarbonate glass windows that were specially made to prevent breakages from stone-throwing or similarly perilous activities; emergency intercoms equipped with two-way communication; and roof-mounted air conditioning units for each car to better regulate inner temperatures amid the outer tropical climate prevalent in that part of the world.    

In the years since the formal introduction of the PNR 8100 class DMUs to the public, their daily operations have included regular runs on the PNR Metro Commuter Line’s Metro South Commuter service between Tutaban station and — likewise located in Metro Manila –Alabang  station in the city of Muntinlupa. The accompanying photo of passengers on board one of the cars of a PNR 8100 class DMU was taken in 2022.

Photo Credit: LMP 2001 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Additional information on the start of operations for the PNR 8100 class trains is available at https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1094421

A video featuring these trains can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGXWNung218