DOST to test electric train on PNR tracks

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology may start test rides on its Electric Hybrid Train (EHT), which DOST experts designed and built, on the Philippine National Railways (PNR) tracks this month, an official said yesterday.

Secretary Mario Montejo said the DOST’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC) will likely launch the test rides after the completion of the final prototype in the last quarter of 2015.

“We will be launching it, hopefully this January,” Montejo told The STAR. He earlier said the EHT will be offered as an alternative to the PNR trains.

He set the timetable for the completion and testing of the train in May, reset it to July then gave up issuing a timetable after the MIRDC experienced difficulty in sourcing key spare parts from Korea late last year.

The MIRDC fasttracked the development of the train after deciding to just buy the bogie for the EHT from a Korean company, Sung Shin Rolling Stock Technology Co., Ltd.

Montejo said the decision was made after realizing that development work on a locally designed and fabricated bogie will take a long time and entail a bigger investment.

Apart from the bogie, Montejo said all the other parts, mainly the train body and other accessories and equipment, will be fabricated and built by Filipino companies. 

Montejo earlier said that the first train set they will assemble will be a five-coach train composed of four coaches for passengers and one power coach.

“The capacity will be equivalent of one commuter train of the PNR,” Montejo earlier said.

The EHT is meant to run at 60 to 80 kilometers per hour.