DOTr bares plans for Mega Manila Subway, Manila-Clark train line

Commuting not only around Metro Manila but even as far away as the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga may soon be not only fast but comfortable as well as the Department of Transportation (DOTr) recently laid out two of its plans under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Since the Clark International Airport in Pampanga is being eyed as an alternate hub of the heavily-congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila, the DOTr is planning to construct a 107-kilometer line between Manila and Clark via the Philippine National Railways' North Railway that can accommodate as many as 350,000 passengers per day and traverse that distance in only 55 minutes "and will guarantee reliable and convenient train services with proper intermodal connections." Another project that the DOTr shared is the 25-kilometer Mega Manila Subway, which will be the first such system in the Philippines and will travel between Quezon City and Taguig "in just 31 minutes" and transport an estimated 370,000 passengers per day on its first year of operation. The agency claims though that this is only Phase 1 of the project so it's possible that the project could be extended further beyond Taguig. For the Manila-Clark North Railway line, the DOTr's estimated budget for the project is over P255 billion--split between the construction of a line that will connect Metro Manila to Malolos, Bulacan before extending it all the way to Clark--with a start date of the fourth quarter of 2017 and its expected completion four years later in Q4 2021. As for the Mega Manila Subway, the projected budget for it is at P227 billion, with a start date of Q4 2019 and its estimated completion in Q2 2024.