The Philippine Railway Conference 2025 is coming up soon. I am very glad to see a lot of people interested in rail – from the technical people running our railways to those involved in planning and management to the advocates and enthusiasts. Rail was not so “fashionable” or “glamorous” (to use these words liberally) many years ago. Perhaps people traveling and experiencing rail in countries where it has persevered and evolved plus social media have changed this – and for the better. Sharing here some papers that were the outcomes of an interdisciplinary research program led by the Third World Studies Center of UP. Rail, after all, is not just about the technical but also the social and human aspects of the mode.
The website for the Emerging Inter Disciplinary Research (EIDR) program supported by the UP System is still up and hosted by the Third World Studies Center. I think it’s something worth a Phase 2. The program leader, Dr. Ricardo Jose, is now retired from UP but is a Professor Emeritus of UP so he can still be engaged. Nevertheless, there are many at UP and other higher education institutions who can be involved in a program that should have a more expanded coverage. There were railways, after all, in other parts the country including Panay, Negros, Cebu and Mindanao.
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Caught (up) in traffic 