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Japan’s Hitachi Rail STS will carry out the electro-mechanical systems and track works for the Phase 1 Malolos-Solis section of the North-South Commuter Railway project
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Hitachi Rail signed the Contract Package 04 with the Department of Transportation on January 30
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The first segment of NSCR has 10 stations along a 34.91-km stretch from Malolos, Bulacan to Solis, Manila
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Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista urged Hitachi to complete the project on time
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Japan’s Hitachi Rail STS have signed the contract for Phase 1 Malolos-Solis section of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) Project.
The Contract Package 04 (CP04), signed on January 30, covers the electro-mechanical systems and track works for the first segment of NSCR, which has 10 stations and stretches 34.91 kilometers from Malolos, Bulacan to Solis, Manila.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista urged Hitachi during the contract signing to complete the project on time as the railway is expected to service thousands of Filipino commuters daily from Metro Manila and adjacent provinces in Northern Luzon.
“I call on Hitachi to complete the project on time. We hope we will do this even earlier. We will work closely so that all issues are addressed, so that we complete this project on time,” Bautista said.
The transport chief noted that Phase 1 will “carry the most number of passengers of the NSCR Project.”
Funded by a loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), NSCR Phase 1 has a route length of 37.9 km from Malolos, Bulacan to Tutuban, Manila, and will eventually connect to the NSCR-Extension Project, which runs from Calamba, Laguna to Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
Designed to operate at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, the rail line will cut travel time between Makati City and Clark International Airport to less than two hours through the Airport Express Service, while carrying 350,000 passengers daily.
The project is poised to improve connectivity and economic activity in Northern Luzon. It is also expected to generate employment with 59,000 jobs available during construction and 9,000 jobs for operations and maintenance.
Clark Phase 2 (Malolos-Clark) of NSCR is already being constructed and the target completion date has been moved to June 2025 due to delays. The NSCR Clark Phase 1 (Tutuban-Malolos) broke ground in February 2019 while the first four civil works contract packages for the Manila-Calamba section was awarded in October 2022.
The entire NSCR will have 35 stations, including three depots, and will run on 51 commuter train sets and seven express train sets.
Once operational, the NSCR System will reduce travel time from Clark to Calamba to two hours, and is expected to service 800,000 passengers daily.
