Improvements in train performance to be felt by end of Duterte term

MANILA, Philippines — The riding public will get to try and experience new major train projects as well as improvements on existing ones before the term of President Duterte ends, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

Tugade, in an interview with CNN’s “The Source” yesterday, assured that various railway projects seen to ease Metro Manila’s traffic congestion would be partially operable before end-2022.

Among these projects is the P357-billion Metro Manila subway, which will be the Philippines’ first underground railway.

Tugade said partial operability of the subway, which will consist of its first three underground stations, is targeted to be completed by the first quarter of 2022.

Aside from the subway, the transport chief said other major railway projects which would be partially operable before end-2022 are the LRT-1 extension to Cavite, LRT-2 extension, PNR Clark Phase 1, and the MRT-7.

“Also, those who fall in line and are on the roads will get to ride a better MRT-3. You will get to try that,” Tugade said.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has vowed to fix and restore the MRT-3 to its original and high-grade design state by the third quarter of 2021 once ongoing rehabilitation works of Japan’s Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are completed.

With the help of the railway projects, the DOTr expects road traffic to be decongested.

The agency, under the Build Build Build program, has embarked on a campaign to build new railways and rehabilitate existing ones with the goal of expanding railway infrastructure throughout the country to 1,900 kilometers by 2022 from the current 77 kilometers in operation.

The government also plans to bolster the country’s fleet of operational train cars by more than five times by the end of the Duterte administration to boost connectivity and enable better and faster services across all rail networks nationwide.

The target is to grow the country’s rolling stock fleet to more than 1,200 by 2022 from 221 operational train cars, also known as light rail vehicles or coaches, in 2016.