For more than a decade, Filipinos laughed at the misadventures of the Kosme family in the television sitcom Home Along Da Riles, where the late comedian Dolphy played a father raising his children in a shanty beside a railway track.

The show turned life beside the railroad into comedy, but the reality along the old Philippine National Railways (PNR) corridor has often been far harsher.

Across the decades, the country’s rail lines have seen derailments, collisions and fatal accidents involving people living dangerously close to the tracks or vehicles attempting to cross in front of oncoming trains.

In September 1997, seven people died and more than 200 were injured when two PNR commuter trains collided between Sucat and Alabang in Muntinlupa. One coach derailed during the crash and scraped shanties built close to the railway line, a stark illustration of how settlements had crept into the railway’s safety zone.

In other incidents, trains collided with vehicles at crossings, killing motorists and passengers. In May 2014, a cigarette vendor died and six others were injured when a PNR train struck a jeepney crossing the tracks in Sampaloc, Manila.

In January 2016, another PNR commuter train collided with a jeepney at the Pedro Gil crossing near Paco station, killing one person and injuring several others.

And in December 2019, a car was struck by a southbound PNR train at Halang Crossing in Biñan, Laguna after it reportedly tried to beat the train at the crossing, killing a passenger.

More deaths

In the same year, a passenger van was hit by a Bicol-bound train in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, killing two people and injuring several others.

Pedestrian fatalities have also been recorded. In August 2021, three teenagers were run over by a passing PNR train in Santa Mesa, Manila. In April 2022, a child was killed after being struck by a locomotive at a rail intersection in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Longtime railway personnel also recall how settlements along the tracks created operational hazards for trains. Residents living beside the railway sometimes threw garbage onto passing coaches.

Older PNR rolling stock was, thus, fitted with sloped roof panels designed to deflect debris so trash tossed from nearby homes would slide off the train rather than accumulate on top of the cars.

Such conditions underscore why railway authorities say clearing the right-of-way has become unavoidable as the country rebuilds its rail network.

Thousands of families who lived for decades along the railway corridor are now being relocated as construction of the North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR) moves forward.