The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved financing of as much as $2.75 billion for the development of a 53.1 kilometer (km) passenger rail line connecting Malolos, a suburb north of Manila, with the Clark Economic Zone and Clark International Airport in central Luzon.
The Malolos–Clark railway line is a component of the Philippine government’s North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project, a 163-kilometer commuter railway network stretching from town of New Clark in Tarlac Province within the north to Calamba in Laguna Province in southern Manila. The NSCR project is anticipated to be accomplished by 2025.
The Malolos–Clark rail project will provide secure, reliable and reasonably priced public transportation for a complete of roughly 342,000 day by day passengers traveling on the Manila–Clark Corridor and as much as 696,000 day by day passengers to Calamba by 2025. This is estimated to cut back travel time reduction from Metro Manila to Clark International Airport to lower than an hour by rail in comparison with the present 2-3 hours by automobile or bus. The project is anticipated to change into partially operational from 2022.
The Malolos-Clark rail project will help alleviate the present chronic traffic congestion in metropolitan Manila, reduce air pollution, lower transportation and logistics costs, spur economic growth in Central Luzon, and encourage population relocation from the capital to regional growth centers within the north, comparable to Clark in Pampanga .
“ADB’s partnership with the Philippines has always been strong and has become even stronger over the past three years,” said ADB President Takehiko Nakao. “The government’s Build, Build, Build (BBB) program is clearly driving a much-needed acceleration in infrastructure spending, from less than 2% of gross domestic product a decade ago to 6.3% today, which is on track to meet the target of 7 % by 2022. One of the key flagship projects of the BBB program is the Malolos-Clark Railway.”
“This will be the largest-ever financing for an ADB infrastructure project and from a development perspective, we are pleased that this investment is taking place in an ADB host country. The project, coupled with other investments in light rail transit, subways and metro systems, will restore the culture of rail transportation in Metro Manila,” Mr. Nakao said.
The project is co-financed with as much as $2 billion by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which can finance rolling stock and rail systems.
“Our co-financing partnership with JICA allows both of our institutions to combine our experience and expertise in building a world-class railway in the Philippines,” said ADB Southeast Asia Chief Transportation Specialist, Mr. Markus Roesner.
The project involves the development of two sections of rail – a 51.2-km section connecting town of Malolos in Bulacan province with the booming Clark Regional Development Center, and a 1.9-km extension connecting NSCR to Blumentritt Station in Manila, where there may be an elevated transfer station for trains The 1st Tranzytowa tram line will probably be built.
Multimodal facilities will probably be built at railway stations, enabling passengers to simply transfer from public buses and jeepneys to trains. The subway station at Clark International Airport will provide a brief connection to emerging and future airport terminals.
The project will probably be built on high ground, helping to cut back the impact on communities, avoid disruption to businesses and mitigate the danger of flooding along the route. It will use modern construction methods, comparable to prefabricated viaduct segments, which reduces the necessity to purchase land and hastens construction. High-quality construction methods will probably be used to realize a maximum rail speed of 160 km per hour.
via ADB.com
