H2 rail project auctions targeted

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) plans to bid out operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts for two big-ticket railway projects in the second half of this year.

The O&Ms for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) will be separately offered to prospective investors, Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said.

“We will be very busy this year, coming [at] the heels of our NAIA PPP (Ninoy Aquino International Airport public-private partnership [project]) turning out to be a massive success, so we will replicate what we did for NAIA,” Batan said.

Six bidders have submitted offers to upgrade and operate the country’s main gateway and a winner is expected to be announced next month.

Construction of the Manila Subway, Batan, noted, is in full speed.

“We’re expecting the first segment to be completed in 2027 and full operation by 2029,” he added.

Civil works are ongoing for the 36-km P488.5 billion MMSP. With 17 stations, the railway is expected to cut the travel time from Valenzuela City and Quezon City to NAIA’s Terminal 3 to just 35 minutes from the current 1.5 hours or so.

The subway is expected to serve around 370,000 passengers a day in its first year of full operations, with capacity to serve up to 1 million passengers a day in later years. It will be interconnected and interoperable with the NSCR’s south segment.

The NSCR is expected to begin partial operations from West Valenzuela to Malolos by the second quarter of 2027, with full operation scheduled to start by the third quarter of 2029.

A flagship project under the Marcos government’s Build Better More infrastructure program, the NSCR will span 148 kms with 37 stations and 464 train cars. It will

encompass three segments: the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Clark Phase 1 (TutubanMalolos), PNR Clark Phase 2 (Malolos-Clark) and PNR Calamba (Solis-Calamba).

The transport project, which will stretch across 26 cities and municipalities in Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, and Calabarzon, is expected to serve more than a million passengers daily and cut travel time between Clark, Pampanga and Calamba, Laguna to just two hours.