MANILA, Philippines — The maiden trip of the Philippine National Railway’s trip from Manila to Naga last Wednesday was marred by technical glitch as the interprovincial train had to cut its voyage short due to unleveled rail tracks.

PNR operations manager Estelito Nierva said recent heavy rains and floods in Camarines Sur caused the eight-meter rail tracks between Sipocot and Lupi towns to sink to the muddy embankment. The PNR’s “Bicol Express” arrived at Sipocot station at 5:15 pm Thursday and had to stop to ensure the safety of the passengers.

“We did not proceed for safety reasons. But we deployed a commuter train to fetch our passengers and bring them to Naga. The passengers were fetched at about 7 a.m. and were brought safely to their destination,” he said, referring to the 55 passengers of the “Bicol Express” maiden trip.

Nierva said PNR engineers have to place temporary filling materials like gravel to the sunken rail tracks to let the Bicol Express’ scheduled Naga to Manila trip last night possible.

He admitted that the kind of soil where PNR rail tracks are laid out in Camarines Sur are loose and often rendered impassable to trains because of rains and flooding.

“This section usually experiences the same problem because of the loose soil. Once funding is available, we plan to construct a bridge in this area to stabilize the level of rail tracks even during the rainy season,” he added.

The PNR last deployed a trip to the Bicol province in November 2006. Ridership then was pegged at 100,000 annually.

With the donated interprovincial trains from Japan Rail East, the PNR hopes to revive the dormant train route and give commuters an alternative means of transportation to Southern Luzon, especially with the rising cost of fuel.

At present, passengers are charged introductory fare rates of P548 for reclining seats, P950 per berth for family sleeper cabins, and P1,300 per executive sleeper cabins. According to Nierva, the introductory fare rates are still subject to changes pending the approval of the Department of Transportation and Communications.