Philippines: Languishing For Decades After Chinese-funded Project Was Cancelled, Manila's Commuter Rail Gets Going With Japanese Assistance

Japanese trading conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation has been awarded a contract worth $1.91 billion by the Philippines Department of Transportation to supply equipment for the under-construction commuter railway system in Manila, a project aimed at addressing the city's chronic traffic snarls and air pollution.

The project award follows the agreement signed between the Philippines government and funding agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in February for providing official development assistance (ODA) loans of up to $2.8 billion for the Manila commuter rail project. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will also finance the project construction with loans up to $4.3 billion.

As part of the agreement with JICA, the rail project will be built using Japanese technology, including electrical and mechanical systems, signalling and rolling stock.

In Nov 2022, Japanese firm Hitachi Rail was awarded the contract for the electrical and mechanical systems and track works of a segment of the commuter rail project. A joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Japan Transport Engineering Company (J-TREC) will be supplying  304 train cars for commuter rolling stocks.

Officially called the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project, the 147 km urban rail transit system is envisaged to improve connectivity within the Greater Manila Area in the country's main island of Luzon. A fully elevated double-track railway system that will connect Region III (Central Luzon), the National Capital Region (NCR), and Region IV-A (Calabarzon). 

The expansive network will run from New Clark City in Capas to Calamba, Laguna, with 36 stations, 58 eight-car trains and four services, including basic commuter rail service, Commuter Express and Airport Limited Express. The entire system is expected to be completed by 2029.

Trains on this network will be designed to run on standard gauge tracks at a design speed of 120 kmph for regular trains and 160 kmph for airport express trains.

Phase 1 of the NSCR Project is a 38 km-long railway line connecting Malolos in the Province of Bulacan to Tutuban in Manila. The 52 km-long Phase 2 of the project will run northwest from Manila’s northern suburb of Malolos to the Clark economic zone and Clark International Airport in Central Luzon. A 56 km of suburban commuter rail running from Solis to Calamba will complete the network.

The chequered history of the project 

Originally proposed and planned in the 1990s, the commuter railway project has had a tumultuous history, being repeatedly halted and restarted for various reasons.

In 2002, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo-led Philippines government entered into a memorandum of understanding with NorthRail and China National Machinery and Equipment Group (CNMEG) for the project. It was approved in 2003. Estimated to cost around $500 million, it was decided that the project would be primarily funded via a $400 million loan from Export–Import Bank of China.

Touted as the biggest Chinese-funded project in Southeast Asia, the undertaking was scuttled by the succeeding administration, making the country uninviting to Chinese investors for a time. The project was formally cancelled in March 2011 due to persisting legal issues and allegations of overpricing and corruption. It took 16 years before a substitute project, the North-South Commuter Railway, broke ground.