Travelling to Philippines

Being an archipelago, Philippines is not connected with any international cities or towns via rail network. However, a domestic rail network links the various provinces in the country. Philippine National Railways has an extensive network of railway lines on the island of Luzon.

The network has two commuter rail services, one in Metro Manila and the other in the Bicol Region. The two lines are the Northrail, or the Green Line and the Southrail, also known as the Orange Line. The network connects Metro Manila with the provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Camarines Sur and Albay.

Currently, Southrail is the only operating railway line of this network. Philippine National Railways has a network of 127 stations. The main railway station of this network is the Tutuban station, which is located in Manila.

The station is situated in the shopping district of Divisoria in Tondo, along the Claro M. Recto Avenue and Dagupan Street. The railway station also serves as an air-conditioned shopping centre. At the shopping centre, one can find many shops selling clothing, jewellery, furnishings and electronics.

Some of the other railway stations of the Southrail network are Caloocan, Blumentritt, España, San Andres, Pasay Road, Santa Rosa, Calamba and others.  

The passenger services of this network are Commuter Express and the Bicol Commuter. The former connects Manila with Calamba City, Laguna, while the latter serves Tagkawayan, Quezon, Ligao City, Albay and Naga City in Camarines Sur.

Train Routes in Philippines
The Orange Line of the Philippine National Railways is the main commuter line in Metro Manila. The network links Metro Manila with the provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Camarines Sur and Albay.

The network spans a length of 1,060 kilometres on the island of Luzon. The now defunct Northrail was serving Cavite and the northern provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and La Union.

Commex and Metrotren services are operational in Metro Manila and Calamba City in Laguna. The train travels along the South Luzon Express-way, the main express-way in Metro Manila. Mayon Limited runs till Camalig station in the foothills of Mayon Volcano. Prestige Express connects Tutuban station, Manila with Daraga, Ligao, Naga, Lucena, and Paco.

Peñafrancia Express links Naga, Lopez, Pagbilao, San Pablo City and Sampaloc with Metro Manila. Tutuban station, Manila is linked by Dagupan Express with Dagupan City and Bicol Express with Legazpi City.

The only operational line of the Philippine National Railways is the Southrail. It links Metro Manila with Legazpi City in Albay. Further, its branches connect Manila with San Pedro in Laguna, Carmona in Cavite, Calamba, Batangas City and Santa Cruz in Laguna.

Philippine National Railways has first-class coaches, known as De Luxe, for regional passenger service. The coach is equipped with 2+2 abreast reclining seats, which are rotatable. The Tourist coaches of these trains are not air-conditioned. The facilities in these coaches are the same as those in De Luxe.

In these trains, one can also opt for Economy coaches. These have 2+3 abreast and rotatable seats. The fare of these coaches is more than that of the air-conditioned coaches with reclining seats.

The first-class sleeping-cars have two-tier bunks provided with fresh linen. These are air-conditioned coaches. Non-air-conditioned sleepers are suitable for budget travel.
 
The fare of Philippine National Railways for the routes within Metro Manila range from 0.22 USD to 0.34 USD for ordinary coaches and 0.45 USD for air-conditioned coaches.