PNR North Main Line

The PNR North Main Line ( fil, Pangunahing Linyang Pahilaga ng PNR, simply known as PNR North or Northrail) is one of the two trunk lines of the Philippine National Railways in the island of Luzon, the other being the PNR South Main Line. The line during its maximum extent led to various cities and municipalities in Central Luzon and the Ilocos Region.

The project was originally proposed in 1875 during the Spanish era, and was constructed in stages between the 1880s and the 1890s as the ''Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan'' (). The line was opened to Dagupan, Pangasinan on November 24, 1892. Further extensions to the line reached as far as Bacnotan, La Union with passenger trains terminating at San Fernando station in the provincial capitol. It also briefly reached Sudipen near the provincial border with Ilocos Sur during World War II but was later dismantled in 1945.

Services peaked in the 1960s and the early 1970s until several factors such as fierce competition with the national highway system, increasing maintenance costs, natural disasters and the 1997 Asian financial crisis eventually led to the closure of the line in the late 1990s. The line only served as a connection for trains returning to the Caloocan depot. After 21 years of inactivity, services on the North Main Line resumed on August 1, 2018, with the reopening of Solis station in Tondo, Manila. More stations opened for the next few months with the latest being on December 3 that year.

Like its counterpart to the south, the line is also slated to be rebuilt. The North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR) is being constructed in the area of Bulacan. Once completed, it will connect Tutuban station with Clark International Airport in Pampanga, and New Clark City in Tarlac. To its west of the line is the Subic–Clark railway which will initially be built for freight trains between the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone and Clark Airport with an extension to New Clark City. Other railroad lines that are separate from the NSCR are collectively referred as the PNR North Long Haul. Currently, this last project is still being proposed.

History

The railroad network in Luzon, predecessor to today's Philippine National Railways, was first proposed on August 6, 1875. To the north of Manila are two main lines, one leading to Laoag, Ilocos Norte and the other leading to Tuguegarao, Cagayan. The system was approved by the Spanish East Indies government in 1880, but construction did not commence until 1887 due to the lack of a concession operator. Unlike the South Main Line which was built to its planned terminus in Legazpi, Albay