CALAMBA CITY,
Laguna (PIA) — The Department of Transportation
(DOTr) and the Philippine
National Railways (PNR)
have broke ground for
the P73.25-billion South
Commuter Railway Project (SCRP), hailed as a
“game-changing rail system that will transform
lives.”
“We are forging
ahead, overcoming every
challenge, because we
know meeting the project’s deadlines will lead
to a game-changing rail
system that will transform
lives,” DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said during
the groundbreaking on
July 3.
Also known as
the Alabang-Calamba
stretch of the 147-kilometer North-South Commuter
Railway (NSCR) system,
the project involves three
civil contract packages
consisting of railway viaduct structures and elevated stations at Alabang and
Muntinlupa, San Pedro,
Pacita, Biñan, and Santa
Rosa, and Cabuyao, Banlic, and Calamba.
The NSCR will
have 35 stations and will
run on 51 commuter train
sets and seven express
train sets.
A flagship project under the ‘Build Better More’ Program, the
147.26-km NSCR system
aims to seamlessly connect Clark, Pampanga
and Calamba, Laguna.
It will also reduce travel
time from Metro Manila to
its neighboring provinces
from 4-4.5 hours to just
less than two hours.
The NSCR’s last
three segments is part
of DOTr’s collaborative
efforts with the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
embassies of South Korea
and Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), contractor Hyundai – DongAh joint venture,
and the local government
of Santa Rosa, Laguna.
Bautista said the
mass rail transport infrastructure seeks to connect
the northern and southern
provinces adjacent to Metro Manila in order to provide a faster, more seamless travel to and from the
metropolis.
“Residents and
communities who have
noticed the railway’s massive construction have
pinned their hopes on a
comfortable, affordable,
safe and efficient commute – a striking contrast
to the deteriorating road
traffic that has spilled over
to north and south of Metro Manila,” the transportation secretary said.
Bautista said that
the existing tracks from
Alabang to Calamba will
be relocated to be used at
the proposed 565-kilometer-long South Long-Haul
project that will stretch all
the way to Bicol.
He expects that the new
rail infrastructure will
“open the gates for the
renaissance of the railway industry in the Philippines.”
Starting July
2, the PNR suspended all trips for the Alabang-Calamba line to signal the commencement
of the project and to meet
the project’s deadline. For
passengers going to Manila, this means a temporary shift of transportation
options and added transport fare. Photo by Christopher Hedreyda, PIA Laguna
Starting July
2, the PNR suspended all trips for the Alabang-Calamba line to signal the commencement of
the project and to meet the
project’s deadline.
For passengers going to Manila, this
means a temporary shift of
transportation options and
added transport fare.
Helen Dayon-dayon, a 68-year old
frequent train passenger
from Calamba, uses the
train to transport her livestock goods to Blumentritt,
Manila twice a month. She
said that the temporary
suspension of the line’s
operations makes her
commute less comfortable
than usual.
From her train
fare of P44 from Calamba
to Blumentritt, she’s now
going to ride a provincial
bus with a fare ranging
from P100-110.
“Mapipilitan [ako]
na mag-bus. Mahal sa bus,
malaki ang mahal, mahigit kalahati. Walang choice
[kundi] magbu-bus,” Dayon-dayon said.
But she remains
confident with the project, particularly on the resumption of trains going to
hometown Bicol Region.
“Mas maigi iyon.
Maganda kung tren, hindi
mainit at hin
