The Department of Transportation said over the weekend nine civil works contracts for the construction of the P344.6-billion PNR-Calamba Project are set to be awarded in the first quarter of 2022.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the overall progress rate of the PNR Calamba Project reached 28.63 percent as of December 2021.
He said the 56-kilometer railway project would serve at least 340,000 passengers a day in its partial operations. Ridership is expected to increase up to 550,000 passengers once the railway is on full operations by 2028.
It is a part of the longer 147-kilometer North-South Commuter Railway System (which has 35 stations from Calamba in Laguna to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. The NSCR System will have a fleet of 464 train cars or 58 trains sets, including seven airport express trains.
Data from the department showed that PNR Clark 1, or the Manila-Malolos section, had a 53.85-percent overall progress rate while PNR Clark 2, or the Malolos-Clark segment, registered 34.46-percent construction progress as of end-2021.
The agency said the construction of the P106-billion PNR Clark 1 was on track to be completed by 2024. Once finished, this section will have 10 stations and will traverse the cities of Manila, Caloocan, Valenzuela and Meycauayan and the municipalities of Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas and Guiguinto and Malolos City in Bulacan province.
The second leg of the NSCR Project, the 53-kilometer PNR Clark Phase 2, is expected be partially operational by the second quarter of 2023, while the full operation is targeted by the third quarter of 2024.
The project will connects cities and municipalities in Central Luzon to Metro Manila and will link the railway system with the country’s first ever Airport Express Service going to Clark International Airport.
The DOTr said the delivery of the NSCR’s 58 8-car train sets (464 train cars or bagons) started, with the the first set arriving in November 2021.
Once completed, the NSCR System intends would cut travel time from Clark International Airport to Calamba from more than 4 hours to just 1.5 hours.
Travelers from Makati will also be able to reach the Clark International Airport in less than an hour aboard the Airport Express train service. The NSCR System can initially accommodate up to 1 million daily passengers.
This will support the viability of Clark International Airport as a major gateway in Luzon and decongest the major roads and expressways connecting Calabarzon, Metro Manila and Central Luzon.