AN INITIAL batch of Philippine Railway Institute (PRI) personnel will be training in Japan this July, an official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Wednesday.
“The training which shall focus on railway operations and management will be done in batches,” DOTr Assistant Secretary for Communications Goddess Hope Libiran told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
She said a total of 14 personnel from the project management office of the Metro Manila Subway Project will train for seven days at the Tokyo Metro Training Center at no cost to the government since it is fully funded by a grant from the Japanese government.
Further training sessions will be conducted on the following dates:
October 2019: 10 to 15 PRI personnel for seven days
April 2020: 10-15 personnel for seven days
June 2020: 10-15 personnel for seven days
September to December 2020: 30 personnel for three months
The trainings will be held as the DOTr prepares for the partial operations of the railway institute set in October this year.
The PRI curriculum was approved during a meeting of DOTr and the Japan International Cooperation Agency officials after the groundbreaking of the Metro Manila Subway System last February 27.
The PRI will offer nine certificate and licensing courses covering specialized disciplines in railway operations and maintenance.
The institute, funded by a 690 million yen grant from the Japanese government, aims to become the primary policy-making, planning, implementing, regulating, and administrative agency on human resource development in the Philippine railway sector.
Full operations of the PRI are scheduled in 2021 after completion of its 20,000-square meter building at a four-hectare site at the Metro Manila Subway depot in Valenzuela City. ( Aerol John Pateña)
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