A CONGRESSWOMAN has filed a bill creating a single and unified regulatory body for the railway industry to promote the efficient and effective management of the national railway system.

Filed on June 1, House Bill (HB) No. 8510 seeks to establish the Railways Industry Authority of the Philippines (RIAP) and defining its powers, functions and structures.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera lamented that the regulatory functions for railways are currently “fragmented” among various rail entities, resulting in inconsistencies in policies and standards, as well as inefficiencies in the planning and regulatory processes.

She said her bill is aimed at addressing “the need to rationalize and streamline the regulatory functions over railways.”

“The bill provides for the creation of [RIAP] which will be responsible for the regulations within the Philippine Railway Industry,” she pointed out.

Under Herrera’s bill, RIAP will serve as the central railway industry regulation authority of the government.

It shall be an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for purposes of policy and program coordination but shall independently be governed by its Rail Industry Board (RIB), and operated and managed by its own set of administrative officials and personnel.

In furtherance of its mandate, the RIAP shall have the power to issue and revoke certification to intending to participate in the railway industry, from planning and project development, construction and implementation, testing, commissioning and handover, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning and disposal.

RIAP will also have the authority to issue and revoke franchise to railway infrastructure and asset operators and/or concessionaires, as may be delegated by Congress through an enabling law.

It shall also prescribe and enforce railway-industry related standards, rules and guidance, in compliance with domestic statutes (primarily) and international mandates (as applicable to local setting).

RIAP shall administer, impose, and implement railway-related regulatory requisites in accordance with pertinent statutes; and formulate prescribe, and enforce unified metrics and key performance indicators to entities involved in the railway industry.

The RIB shall be composed of the Secretary and Undersecretary for Railways of DOTr; Secretaries of the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Public Works, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Finance; and one representative trom the private sector.

The President shall appoint through the recommendation of the DOTr Secretary an Administrator who shall sit as the Chairman of the Board.

The RIB shall have the power to recommend an expansion of the membership of the board up to a total of 11 members, upon the approval of the Office of the President.

The management of RIAP shall be headed by an Administrator and shall be assisted by three Deputy Administrators who shall also be appointed by the President of the Philippines through the recommendation of the DOTr Secretary.