The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has formally awarded the contract for the assembly of seven train sets for the future Express Trains of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) System.
A total of 56 wagons or rolling stocks will begin to be produced by the joint venture of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Spain’s Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles under Contract Package NS-03.
According to DOTr Assistant Secretary for Railways Jorjette Aquino, eight wagons will be joined for one train set.
It will amount to P8.7 billion to be paid by the Philippine government with the help of Official Development Assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Aquino explained that the Express Trains will run during off-peak hours on the NSCR’s elevated railway tracks from Clark International Airport, stop at Buendia in Makati city and reach the Alabang area in Muntinlupa city.
It will not stop at every station of the total route of 147 kilometers of NSCR.
It can run at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour on both ends.
Meanwhile, these Express Trains will be joined by NSCR’s 304 wagons which is equivalent to 38 Commuter train sets that will stop at every station from Clark International Airport to the city of Calamba in Laguna.
In connection with this, Aquino also announced that the amount spent on the NSCR system will reach P874 billion.
The NSCR Phase 2 or also called the Malolos-Clark Railways Project starts from the Clark International Airport to the city of Malolos in Bulacan. About 40.26 percent has been done here. It was jointly financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and JICA in the amount of P487 billion.
The progress rate of the NSCR Phase 1, which is a 38-kilometer route from Malolos to Tutuban in Manila, which was financed by JICA in the amount of P93 billion, is going up to 60%.
And finally, the pre-construction works for NSCR’s South Commuter Line from Blumentritt to Calamba in Laguna are in full swing. The funds loaned for this by the ADB amount to US$4.3 billion. (PIA 3)
