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Old maps of Rizal Province
I found these two old maps of the Province of Rizal. I was trying to trace their sources but couldn’t find them yet. These were shared from social media pages.
The second map clearly shows the Rizal towns that eventually became part of Metro Manila in the 1970s. These include Navotas, Malabon, Caloocan, Marikina, Pasig, Tagig, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pateros, Paranaque, Las Pinas and Muntinlupa. Pasig used to be the capital of the province; hence, Kapitolyo, which is still in Pasig. Note, too, that Caloocan was connected via a narrow strip between Quezon City and Bulacan. That part of Bulacan is the then town of Valenzuela that was also integrated with Metro Manila. I wrote about a ‘what if’ a while ago where politics would have been different in the province if it remained as it is before the creation of Metro Manila. History teaches us a lot of things including decisions made that led to how we are today. That certainly applies to transportation and definitely applies to politics if you come to think of it particularly for Rizal.
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Video share: replacing railroad ties
Here’s a quick share of a video of the modern, ‘state of the art’ way to replace railroad ties (sleepers):
I suddenly recall how satisfying or relaxing it was to watch concrete being mixed manually. I think watching the video above gives a similar feeling.
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On preserving railways – an example in Bulgaria
Here’s a quick share of an article about saving Bulgaria’s last narrow gauge railroad:
The article is relevant as it discusses the plight of railways amidst shrinking ridership and escalating costs of operations and maintenance. The railways in the article is not a isolated case. It is quite common for many railway systems. The difference of this example from another similar service like those in Japan is that Japan Railways or private companies can probably absorb the costs and maintain the line not just as a service but to show their commitment. Historically, there are many railway lines, branches if you prefer, of the Manila Rail Road Company (later the Philippine National Railways) that had to be discontinued due in part to a combination of diminished ridership and escalating O&M costs. The Main Line South, for example, had several branches including an extension from Albay to Sorsogon that had to be discontinued. Nowadays though, the topic should also be considered as the railways in the country is being expanded again. There is still the issue of ridership and this will always be in competition with road-based transport as well as aviation.
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Caught (up) in traffic 