CARMONA STATION - PART 2

 

Welcome to 'Part 2' of our look at the abandoned Carmona station, on the San Pedro to Carmona branch, south of Manila.

For more information about the line, some history and photos of the platform and yard area, check out

Part 1 here.

Foyer area.

Sorry puppy, you will have to get a taxi.

A look at the main entrance facing the street.

Looking down onto the platform from the street.

Carmona Station - Part 1

The Carmona branchline, junctioning at San-Pedro (Laguna), has long fascinated me.
Sadly, while had many opportunities, I never took a ride on the train, my first visit being following cessation of services.

The lack of motivation stemmed mostly from the horrid timetable that existed by the time I started travelling to Manila.

 There was one service to Carmona in the evening, with the return being in the early hours of the morning. It is not the kind of frequency that endears anyone to use rail.

When it opened, there was a far more realistic operation of 13 return trips each day.

Opened on April 1st 1973 (April Fools Day), the line was both the last branchline constructed in the Philippines, thus far, and also the last one to be closed.

It's closure was brought on by demands from a landholder, through whos land the line was build, started demanding payment from the Arroyo Government.

There was not much to the branch, being single track from junction till terminus, with only one intermediate halt called 'Chrysanthemum Village', a rather glorious name for a very small little platform.

The terminus consisted of only a run around loop to allow for locomotives to change the ends of the train.

Despite appearances here, one more train would reach this station in 2010.
The train was a reclamation run, operated by 5001, and hauling three FL cars, including FL-255.

It was for removing the tracks and ensuring no more trains could operate there.

What fascinated me most about this Carmona station is the construction.

You enter the station building off the street in General Mariano Alvarez. Here you find the foyer and a ticket office (to be covered in part 2), before you proceed out the platform side.

Due to the lay of the land, it was required to install steps to take passengers down to the platform.

I think this is unique in the Philippines.

Now, despite the aforementioned track removal, much of the branch remained in situ.

However, in early 2019 it was reported that a group of criminals, dressed as PNR employees, were caught stealing some of this surviving track.

It was around the same time as these criminals were caught, that it was announced that Carmona would be reopened.

This was of course met with much excitement and, given all the new rollingstock, perhaps a regular service could have again been operated.
It sure could have helped transport in the area again and took a little more stress off the roads.

It was never quite explained how the previously mentioned landowner would be dealt with in order for the line to be restored, whether he would be paid what he was requesting, or simply passed on.

Anyway, at the time of this post, there has been no reports of any progress on the reopening on this popular branch.

However, sometimes these developments are occurring without anyone noticing.

We hope that one day this will become an important part of the Philippine National Railway system again.

Carmona Station       Photo: Lindsay Bridge

Google Image: Near junction at San Pedro in 2019
Copyright of Google-Used as per their terms and conditions.

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Thanks to Mark Chua  and Jose Ramirez.

wikipedia.org

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~~ CARMONA YESTERDAY AND TODAY ~~

Lindsay Bridge got a photo of this three car CMC/CTC/CMC set standing at Carmona station back in the earlier days of the branch.



Sadly the station had developed into a jungle by the time of my visit in 2009. It had been closed since Typhoon Reming in 2006 and to date there has been no word on when it will reopen, and no actual clarification to what damage the typhoon did.

Next week we plan to do a more instensive photographic survey of Carmona in 2009.

~~ CARMONA LINE ~~

Sometimes it seems almost impossible to find photographs of trains on the Carmona branch. Not surprising really with only two trains a day that do not lend themselves to a easy return trip to Manila in he same day.

This absolutely awesome shot appeared on Skyscraper City and was apparently taken by Lindsay Bridge (an Australian I imagine as his Flickr site has some great old shots from here).

Today the line has had its service suspended (reportedly due to typhoon damage), the yard has become very overgrown and the station deteriorated, while CMC-375 has faired the worst, having since been scrapped.

I would certainly be interested in any other Carmona line shots people may be able to contribute.