MANILA – The North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR) will carry airport passengers and other commuters from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Malanday in Valenzuela City by 2029, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Wednesday.
DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said the NSCR will open in phases, starting with the first 27 kilometers and seven stations by the end of 2027.
“Next year, makikita na natin na may tumatakbong tren rito (we can already see a train running here),” Batan said.
The second phase will extend the line from Malolos to Clark Airport, adding 53 kilometers, and open between the end of 2028 and early 2029. Operations will then expand south from Alabang to Calamba by 2031, with the central segment connecting Valenzuela and Alabang targeted for full line operations by 2033.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the agency to speed up construction of the NSCR to ease the daily commute of Filipinos in the northern and southern provinces adjacent to Metro Manila.
On Tuesday, the DOTr, members of the House of Representatives and officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a joint site inspection of NSCR facilities.
“With the firm backing of Congress and our project partners, we are pushing forward to ensure that the Filipinos get a world-class, reliable, safe, and efficient commuter rail system,” Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said.
During the inspection, House Committee on Flagship Programs and Projects chairperson Rep. Kenneth Gatchalian assured the DOTr that “we are here to support. We are all here to help out and to ensure na ma-achieve natin ‘yung target dates natin (that we achieve our target dates).”
The inspection covered the operations control centers at Clark Depot and Malanday Depot, and platform and track alignment progress at Balagtas Station in Bulacan. At Malanday, the legislators tested a train simulator and viewed electric multiple unit train sets stationed along the tracks.
Spanning 147.26 km across 30 local government units, the 35-station NSCR will connect Clark International Airport and Calamba, Laguna.
The system is designed to serve about 800,000 passengers daily and cut end-to-end travel time from more than four hours to two hours. It will have 51 commuter train sets and seven express train sets for direct airport service, with all eight cars of the fourth trainset already delivered and positioned at Malanday Depot.
The Japanese government, through JICA, and the Asian Development Bank jointly finance the project.
Also present were Minister for Economic Affairs Naobumi Yokota of the Embassy of Japan; JICA Philippines Chief Representative Takashi Baba; Representatives Agatha Cruz, Elijah San Fernando, Antolin Oreta, Mark Anthony Santos and Monique Yazmin Lagdameo; Assistant Secretary for Railways Eduardo Danilo Macabulos; and Posco E&C project manager JaeHeung Kim. (Raymond Carl Dela Cruz/PNA)
