The PNR South Main Line ( fil, Pangunahing Linyang Patimog ng PNR, also known as Southrail and formerly the Main Line South) is one of the two trunk lines that form the

Philippine National Railways The Philippine National Railways (PNR) ( fil, Pambansang Daang-Bakal ng Pilipinas and es, Ferrocarril Nacional de Filipinas) is a state-owned railway company in the Philippines which operates one commuter rail service between Metro Manila an ...

' network in the island of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It was opened in stages between 1916 and 1938 by the Manila Railroad. Services peaked in the 1940s until the late 1960s, when the system started to decline. Since 1988, it was the only functioning

inter-city rail Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...

after its counterpart to the north, the North Main Line, was closed. The intercity section of the line in

Laguna Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ( tl, Lalawigan ng Quezon), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Kalilayan was the first known name of th ...

and the

Bicol Region Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...

was then closed and reopened repeatedly between 2004 and 2014 due to a combination of declining ridership and was closed since then. Currently, only two short sections of the line survive; the

PNR Metro Commuter Line The PNR Metro Commuter Line is a commuter rail line operated by the Philippine National Railways. It was first inaugurated as the Metro Manila Commuter Service in 1970, and originally served the North Main Line and the South Main Lines, as wel ...

between

Tutuban station Tutuban station (also known as Manila station or Divisoria station) is the central railway terminus of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) network located in the city of Manila, Philippines. The name refers to two stations: the original T ...

and Laguna, and the ''Bicol Commuter''

regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

service between Sipocot and Naga,

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur ( bcl, Habagatan na Camarines; tl, Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte and ...

. Since its closure, there has been a planned overhaul of the line. The railway will consist of two standard-gauge lines which will overlap in southern

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

and Laguna. One is the

North–South Commuter Railway The North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR), also known as the Clark–Calamba Railway, is a urban rail transit system under construction in the island of Luzon, Philippines. Running from New Clark City in Capas to Calamba, Laguna with 36 sta ...

's South section between Tutuban and

Solis station Solis station is a railway station located on the North Main Line in the city of Manila, Philippines. After being abandoned for 20 years, and after nearly 10 years since the station's reconstruction, PNR reopened the Solis Station as part of Ca ...

s in north-central Metro Manila to

Calamba station Calamba station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Laguna, Philippines. It is one of two railway stations in the city and it is a major station on the line, serving as the junction between the South Main Line and the old Calam ...

Calamba, Laguna Calamba, officially the City of Calamba ( fil, Lungsod ng Calamba), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. According ...

. This route will be electrified with

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

power through

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...

s. The other is the PNR South Long Haul from

Sucat station Sucat station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was originally established by the Manila Railway Company in 1908 as part of the construction of the original Southern Lines to the pr ...

Muntinlupa Muntinlupa, officially the City of Muntinlupa ( fil, Lungsod ng Muntinlupa), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the ...

to Matnog station in

Matnog Matnog, officially the Municipality of Matnog ( Waray Sorsogon: ''Bungto san Matnog''; war, Bungto han Matnog, tl, Bayan ng Matnog), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Sorsogon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a po ...

Sorsogon Sorsogon, officially the Province of Sorsogon (Bikol language, Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Sorsogon''; Waray language, Waray: ''Probinsya han Sorsogon''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sorsogon), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines locat ...

. This route will continue to be operated by diesel stock but will run at a maximum speed of , over twice higher than the existing narrow-gauge line.

History

Planning of the Luzon network started in 1875. To the south of Manila would be a line leading to

Legazpi, Albay Legazpi, officially the City of Legazpi ( bcl, Siyudad nin Legazpi; fil, Lungsod ng Legazpi), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 209,533. Legazpi ...

and a branch line leading to

Bauan Bauan, officially the Municipality of Bauan ( tgl, Bayan ng Bauan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 90,819 people. History Religious attribution and mi ...

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and La ...

Pre-PNR era

Some parts of what will become the South Main Line were first constructed in 1903 as part of the Antipolo Line to

Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The p ...

under the virtue of

Insular Government The Insular Government of the Philippine IslandsThis form of the name appeared in the titles of U.S. Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See Costas v. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, 221 U.S. 623, 1911. The Admini ...

Act No. 703. The formal construction of a main line to the south of

began in 1909 by the virtue of Act No. 1905. By 1909, there was already a line between Tutuban and

Naic Naic, officially the Municipality of Naic ( tgl, Bayan ng Naic), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 160,987 people. Naic has a land area of 76.24 square kilo ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

. This was known as the Naic line. Another line was also opened from

via

Batangas City Batangas City, officially the City of Batangas ( fil, Lungsod ng Batangas), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 351,437 people. Batangas City i ...

. More lines were constructed into the 1910s including the lines from

Nueva Cáceres Nueva Cáceres, officially the City of Nueva Cáceres ( es, Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres), was a colonial Spanish city in the Philippines. Established by Captain Pedro de Sanchez in 1575, the city was named in honor of Governor-General Francisco de ...

Ambos Camarines Ambos Camarines ( es, ambos, meaning "both"; commonly known as Camarines), officially the Province of Ambos Camarines, was a historical province in the Philippines found on the northern end of the Bicol Peninsula. It now exists as two separate ...

to Legazpi or

Tabaco Tabaco, officially the City of Tabaco ( bcl, Siyudad kan Tabaco; fil, Lungsod ng Tabaco), is a 4th class component city in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 140,961 people. It is one of th ...

Albay Albay, The service made its first trial run on February 14, 2022, and was reopened on June 26.

Defunct

In 2006, regular intercity operations on the South Main Line were indefinitely suspended. Issues such as rail

metal theft Metal theft is "the theft of items for the value of their constituent metals". It usually increases when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise, as has happened dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China. Apart from precious m ...

and natural disasters have hampered the line's intercity service from operating regularly ever since. Illegal settlers also live close to the rails in Metro Manila and Laguna sections of the line. In Camarines Sur, liquefaction of the track's embankment caused a section of the line in

Sipocot Sipocot, officially the Municipality of Sipocot ( bcl, Banwaan kan Sipocot; tl, Bayan ng Sipocot), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 68,169 people. Si ...

to sink. This forced the inaugural service of the new ''Bicol Express'' in 2011 to slow down to a near stop while passing through the area. On September 21, 2019, a KiHa 59 and a rerailment train consisting of a newly-repainted

PNR 900 class The PNR 900 class is a class of 21 GE Universal Series diesel–electric locomotives operated by the Philippine National Railways since 1973. The locomotives comes with 3 different types: U14CP (1973), U14C (1979), and U15C (1991). Initially use ...

locomotive and a CMC coach conducted a test run from Tutuban to Naga.

''Bicol Express''

The ''Bicol Express'' was the primary service on the South Main Line. The service started operations between Manila and Aloneros station in

Guinayangan Guinayangan, officially the Municipality of Guinayangan ( tgl, Bayan ng Guinayangan), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 44,045 people. Guinayangan came from ...

by 1919 along with the ''Lucena Express''. A separate train between Pamplona and Tabaco, and between Port Ragay and Legazpi was opened by 1933. The Tabaco branch line during this era was closed in 1937 and instead, they linked these three sections into a single line. This formed the backbone of the South Main Line and was subsequently opened in 1938. This service was short lived and ended during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in 1942. During this era, the Japanese government focused on rebuilding the North Main Line instead and extended it to

Sudipen Sudipen ( Southern Ilocano pronunciation: ), officially the Municipality of Sudipen ( ilo, Ili ti Sudipen; fil, Bayan ng Sudipen), is a 4th class municipality in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a pop ...

on the border between

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur, officially the Province of Ilocos Sur ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Sur; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Sur), is a province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital o ...

and

La Union La Union (), officially the Province of La Union ( ilo, Probinsia ti La Union; Kankanaey'': Probinsyan di La Union;'' Ibaloi'': Probinsya ne La Union;'' pag, Luyag/Probinsia na La Union; Tagalog'': Lalawigan ng La Union),'' is a province in th ...

, and the south line's rehabilitation was cut to

San Pablo, Laguna San Pablo, officially the City of San Pablo ( fil, Lungsod ng San Pablo), is a 1st class component city A city ( fil, lungsod/siyudad) is one of the units of local government in the Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities ( ...

. After the line's post-war rehabilitation, another service was opened. The service immediately became popular with the public and more services were introduced on August 16, 1954. There were two services of this type: the daytime ''Bicol Express'' and the ''Night Express'' which was the night train counterpart. The ''Bicol Express'' leaving Manila was numbered 511 and its night counterpart leaving Legazpi was numbered 513. The ''Bicol Express'' leaving Legazpi was numbered 512 and the ''Night Express'' leaving Manila was numbered 514. The trains only stopped at six stations between Tutuban and Legazpi:

Paco Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fath ...

Lucena Lucena, officially the City of Lucena ( fil, Lungsod ng Lucena), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines. It is the capital city of the province of Quezon where it is geographically situated but, in t ...

Tagkawayan Tagkawayan, officially the Municipality of Tagkawayan ( tgl, Bayan ng Tagkawayan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,003 people. It is the easternmost tow ...

Naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...

and

Ligao Ligao, officially the City of Ligao ( bcl, Siyudad kan Ligao; fil, Lungsod ng Ligao), is a 4th class component city in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 118,096 people. Most of the city's e ...

. Journey times lasted 13 hours between the two termini. Services were expanded until the 1970s. By 1998, ''Bicol Express'' was the only intercity service on the South Main Line. More stations were also added to the line. It was renumbered as Train T-611 for the southbound (MA-NG) and Train T-612 for the northbound (NG-MA). Another ''Bicol Express'' train was serviced by the second version of the General Manager's train, a trainset based on modified CMC-300 series DMUs already operating in PNR service. This was numbered T-577.1998 0623 General Manager's Train T-577 – Flickr.
/ref> Since then, the service was discontinued by 2006 after natural disasters inflicted serious damage to the tracks and bridges. Efforts to revive the service were unsuccessful. Since 2014, operations to the

have been suspended. This is primarily because of typhoon damage to bridges. The PNR hoped to reopen the Bicol Express Service by about September 2014. Due to the damages brought by the

Typhoon Rammasun Typhoon Rammasun, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Glenda, was one of the only three Category 5 super typhoons on record in the South China Sea, with the other ones being Pamela in 1954 and Rai in 2021. Rammasun had destructive impacts across ...

(locally named Glenda), PNR announced that the Bicol Express' resumption of services would be further delayed until October and November 2014. Since then resumption of service has been repeatedly announced and then cancelled, most recently in late 2016. This was mostly because of the remoteness of the areas and the necessity of more extensive railway repairs, which has rendered the railways towards Tutuban and back impassable until very recently. The return of train services to Bicol is planned with the construction of the South Long Haul project.

''Lucena Express''

The Lucena Express was first opened in 1916 with a service between Malvar, Batangas and Aloneros in Guinayangan, Quezon. Later, the service was opened between Manila and Lucena. This train stopped at Blumentritt (San Lazaro), Santa Mesa, Paco, San Pedro, Biñan, Santa Rosa, Calamba, Los Baños, College, Masaya, San Pablo, Tiaong, Taguan, Candelaria, Lutucan and Sariaya stations. It was discontinued in 1942 during the Japanese occupation and was later integrated with the ''Bicol Express'' after the war.

''Mayon Limited''

The older ''Mayon Express Limited'' service was hauled by the newly-acquired MCBP class DMUs starting in 1973. In March 2012, the ''Mayon Limited'' was resurrected and ran between Tutuban and Ligao. The train ran as Mayon DeLuxe on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Tutuban as train T-713 with three air-conditioned carriages with reclining seats. The train returned on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday as train T-714 from Ligao. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays the train ran as Ordinary train (T-815) with non-reclining seats and cooling by fan. The departures for train T-816 were scheduled every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The train did not run on Saturdays. The trains meet at Gumaca. Two types of DMUs were used for the service. The ordinary ''Mayon Limited'' services used

KiHa 52 The is a Japanese diesel multiple unit (DMU) type formerly operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR); JR Group companies such as JR East, JR West, JR Shikoku & JR Kyushu; and later by the private railway operator Isumi Railway based in Chiba ...

DMUs. Meanwhile the ''Mayon Limited Deluxe'' used the

KiHa 59 series The is a diesel multiple unit train type operated by Japanese National Railways and then later operated by JR Hokkaido, JR West, and JR East between 1985 and 2010, and by the Philippine National Railways (PNR) on the Metro South Commuter and ...

DMUs, still with its original ''Kogane'' livery. As of September 2013, all operations to the

, including the Mayon Limited, have been suspended.

''Manila Limited''

The ''Manila Limited'' was a train service between

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and

Iriga Iriga, officially the City of Iriga (Rinconada Bikol: ''Syudad ka Iriga''; bcl, Siyudad nin Iriga; fil, Lungsod ng Iriga), is component city in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 11 ...

. One train each left from these two termini. Train 517 left Manila by 3 pm and arrived in Iriga by 4:15 am. Train 518 left Iriga by 2:50 pm and arrived in Manila by 2:35 am. It ended in 2006 when all regular intercity services were terminated.

''Prestige Express''

The ''Prestige Express'', also nicknamed the ''VIP Train'' from some rail enthusiasts of the time, was a

limited express A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common ...

service from 1974 to 1981. It ran the full length of the South Main Line, but only stopped at only five stations in between. In Manila, it only stopped at the historic

Paco station Paco station is a railway station located on the South Main Line in the city of Manila, Philippines. It was originally opened by the Manila Railroad Company in 1908 as a major hub in the southern half of Manila, where trains toward Cavite provin ...

. Afterwards, it stopped at

, and in

Daraga Daraga, officially the Municipality of Daraga ( bcl, Banwaan kan Daraga; tl, Bayan ng Daraga), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 133,893. The municipality is ...

and

Albay Albay,