Philippines Department of Transportation (DOTr) signed a USD 230 million contract with Sumitomo Corporation and Japan Transport Engineering Company for the supply of 104 train cars for North-South commuter railway project phase I, known as PNR Clark Phase 1.
Under the contract, 13 eight-car trainsets will be designed, manufactured, tested and delivered to DOTr by February 2023. Each train has a capacity for 2,242 passengers, seated and standing.
The North-South railway project envisages the construction of 38 km line between Tutuban in Manila and Malolos in Bulacan in the Metropolitan Manila area. The project is implemented as an Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme of Japan based on a loan aid agreement between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Philippines government.
The construction works started this year and it is expected that commercial services will be launched in 2021. The line will reduce travel time from 1 hour and 30 minutes to 35 minutes and will be used by 340,000 passengers daily.
The first package of the railway project involves the civil works of elevated structures, a depot in Valenzuela city, and the construction of 6 stations. The contract was signed with Taisei – D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) Joint Venture on 20 May 2019 and has started full-blast construction.
The second package, signed in January 2019 and has been on full-blast construction as well since 15 February 2019, consists of civil works of elevated structures, and the construction of the line’s last 3 stations in Balagtas, Guiguinto, and Malolos.
Once fully operational, the PNR Clark Phase 1 will reduce travel time from Manila to Bulacan from one (1) hour and 30 minutes to 35 minutes. The railway line is expected to accommodate over 300,000 passengers daily.
PNR Clark Phase 1 forms part of the 163-km North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project, which include three phases. The first one will have a total length of 37.6 km, the second one, from Malolos to Clark, Pampanga will be 53-km long, and the third one, 56 km, from Manila to Calamba, Laguna.
The total cost of the project is PHP 628.42 billion (EUR 10.7 billion) and is co-financed by JICA and ADB.
ADB provided a USD 2.75 billion loan for the second phase of the project, which envisages the construction of a 51-km double-track line connecting Malolos, a suburb north of Manila, to Clark economic zone and Clark International Airport in Central Luzon.
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