Construction continues at the Balagtas Station of the North-South Commuter Railway in Bulacan. Andrea Taguines, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA - The Clark, Pampanga to Valenzuela segment of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) will open in the first quarter of 2028, said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Thursday.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, who led the inspection of the Balagtas station in Bulacan and Malanday depot in Valenzuela, said almost all right-of-way issues from Malolos to Valenzuela have been resolved.

Undersecretary Jeremy Regino added that the agency is now concentrating on what he described as the “critical path”.

“Our problems are in the Angeles, Apalit, San Fernando area, and also Calumpit. We are concentrating on the right-of-way acquisition to be able to hand over possession to the contractor by this year,” said Regino.

The DOTr earlier announced that partial NSCR operations from Clark to Valenzuela would happen by 2027.

And while that could still be possible under a best-case scenario, the DOTr also has utility relocation issues to address on top of right-of-way acquisition.

According to Regino, there will be towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Meralco power lines, and water utilities that need to be transferred.

“The problem there is we need to fix first the relocation site and then transfer these power and water lines. Otherwise, large communities will be affected, even those outside the right-of-way of the PNR (Philippine National Railways). Hindi naman pwedeng putulin na lang namin yung kuryente,” he said.

“This will be financed by DOTr but they will be the ones that are doing the transfer,” he added.

Meanwhile, the entire 147-kilometer NSCR is expected to be fully operational by 2029. That’s as the DOTr faces more challenging right-of-way problems in the Metro Manila and Laguna portions of the railway system.

Once completed, the project will be able to service 800,000 passengers daily from Clark, Pampanga to Calamba in Laguna.

It will have 58 eight-car train sets, seven of which will be used as airport express trains from Clark International Airport to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay.

The DOTr has yet to issue a fare matrix but Bautista assured commuters that riding the train will be affordable.

“One of the objectives or desire of the Department of Transportation is to have an affordable travel experience for our passengers so we’ll see to it that this will be affordable. This will be, at least, at par with the fares of buses and jeepneys,” he said.

The NSCR will also employ around 10,000 personnel, to be trained by the Philippine Rail Institute (PRI).

“Sa ngayon po, alam naman natin, wala naman talaga tayong skilled manpower. Ite-train po natin sila doon in nine competencies depende kung saan sila magtatrabaho na linya. For example, kung sa fair and ticketing, kung sa passenger management, kung sa maintenance or sa train operation,” said PRI Executive Director, Undersecretary Anneli Lontoc.

The training program is done with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

FROM THE ARCHIVES