DOTr breaks ground for PNR Tutuban-Malolos project

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday broke ground for the Phase 1 of the Duterte administration’s Philippine National Railways (PNR) system, which will link Metro Manila to Clark Field, Pampanga.

The first phase will run from Tutuban station in Manila to Malolos City, Bulacan.

The ground breaking ceremony was graced by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Undersecretary Timothy John Batan, PNR General Manager Junn Magno, Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) country representative Yoshio Wada.

On the sidelines of the event, Batan told reporters that the 37.6-kilometer elevated mass railway transportation system costs a total of P149 billion, P93 billion of which was funded by JICA.

The project will have a total of 10 stations, namely Tutuban, Solis, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, and Malolos station.

For his part, Tugade said the project is expected to reduce travel time between Manila and Bulacan from over one hour and 30 minutes to efficiently 35 minutes only once the railway is fully operational.

The railway project is expected to serve an approximately over 300,000 passengers daily.

The PNR Tutuban-Malolos line is targeted to be completed in 2021 and be fully operational by 2022z

The DOTr said in a project briefer that it has been implementing the proper resettlement program for approximately over 300 informal settler families along the project alignment.

The DOTr has entered into and approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for Caloocan and Manila, Valenzuela and Guiguinto for Bulacan areas with the PNR, National Housing Authority (NHA), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and Local Government Units (LGU’s) for the relocation and resettlement of informal settler families which will be affected by the project.

The PNR Tutuban-Malolos line will also be seamlessly integrated with the PNR Malolos-Clark project and the PNR South Commuter, Manila to Calamba, Laguna Project, forming one integrated commuter railway system that will serve commuters travelling to, from, and within NCR, Region III, and Region IV-A. —KBK, GMA News