ILOILO City – Good news. Another investor has expressed interest in reviving the Panay Island railway system.
Germany-based investor Siemens Transportation Group Inc., with a head office in Makati City, is proposing quieter and smoother magnetic levitation (maglev) trains instead of the conventional ones.
Chief operations officer Cesar Capellan of the state-owned Panay Railways, Inc. (PRI) said Gustav Heinisch, the country’s representative of Siemens, visited his office in La Paz district on Sept. 19.
“They are very interested. They’re proposing a hi-tech class of train – a magnetic train, not an ordinary one,” Capellan told Panay News.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the absence of friction makes the trains very quiet (both within and outside the cars) and provides a very smooth ride for passengers.
A maglev train appears to be “floating” thanks to an electromagnetic force that sends it gliding above the tracks, according to CNN.com.
In Asia, a maglev bullet train that can reach speeds of 600 kilometers per hour (373 miles per hour) made its debut in Qingdao, China in 2021.
Based on Siemens’ initial proposal, the magnetic levitation train will be operated with waste-to-energy hydrogen fuel. As such, the investor is also interested in partnering with the Passi City Government in Iloilo province for its sanitary landfill in the city’s Barangay Aglalana.
On Sept. 16, the company visited Passi City’s Mayor Stephen Palmares, who responded positively to the proposal.
“They plan to power the magnetic train using hydrogen derived from waste materials. So, they proposed converting waste to energy to integrate it with the railway project,” said Capellan.
The investor also visited the office of Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas on Sept. 21 to discuss the same for the Calajunan dumpsite in Mandurriao district, but the local chief executive said the city government has already committed to Metro Pacific Water (MPW).
MPW is the lead investor for all water and wastewater infrastructure projects of the Manny V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) outside Metro Manila and across Asia. MPW already has a joint venture consortium with Metro Iloilo Water District in Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), which provides water supply to the city and its neighboring towns in Iloilo province.
“The mayor mentioned that Metro Pacific came first. So, it’s now just a matter of a Swiss challenge,” Capellan said.
A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement requiring a public authority that has received an unsolicited bid for a public project or for services provided to the government to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or better it.
This Monday, Sept. 25, the company is set to formally submit its letter of interest to PRI.
On Sept. 28, the PRI and Department of Transportation (DOTr) will have a follow-up meeting with the management at their head office in Makati City.
Capellan said the company could explore magnetic levitation trains for Panay Island since it already has projects in Germany and Italy. The Germany-based company was the 15th to show interest in the revival of Panay railways. Other investors are from Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, England, and China.
“I really hope this pushes through,” Capellan said.
To recall, Capellan said the project would most likely be done through the public-private partnership (PPP) build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Under the BOT scheme, the investor will be given 25 to 50 years to operate the railways. The contractor undertakes the construction and maintenance. It shall operate the facility over a fixed term during which it is allowed to charge facility users appropriate charges sufficient to enable the contractor to recover its investment, plus a reasonable rate of return thereon.
Capellan estimated that some US$1.5 billion is needed for the project’s Phase 1, which covers the 117 kilometers of railway tracks from Iloilo City to Roxas City in Capiz province. Phase 1 includes civil works, locomotives, human resources, and relocations, among others.
The original Panay Railway route spanned 117 kilometers with 19 permanent and 10 flag stations, connecting the then-towns of La Paz and Jaro (now districts of Iloilo City) to various other locations, culminating in Roxas City.
Capellan said the revived railway system will have an expanded area of coverage. Phase 2 will see the construction of new railway routes from Roxas City to Kalibo, Aklan, going to Caticlan in Malay, Aklan. Phase 3 will cover the route from Caticlan, Malay, Aklan to San Jose, Antique, while Phase 4 will connect San Jose, Antique to Iloilo City, passing through Iloilo province’s towns of San Joaquin and Miag-ao.
The Panay Railway started operating in 1907. In Iloilo City, its trains ended at the passenger terminal along the wharf next to the Customs House and near the current Iloilo City Hall. Trains ran across what is now the Drilon Bridge from La Paz and down the banks of the Iloilo River to Muelle Loney at the Port of Iloilo. However, operations ceased in 1983 due to mounting losses./PN
