DOTr senior project development officer Timothy John Batan said the railway project would accommodate two kinds of trains that would negotiate either of two railways.
One type would the commuter train with stops at every town traversed by the railway and the other would be the express train which runs non-stop between its terminals in Manila and Clark, Batan said in a briefing.
“We expect that about 25 million people would benefit from the project in its first year of operation alone,” he said.
Batan said work on the project is expected to start later this year now that he engineering detailed design for it has already been finished.
He noted that the P93.5 million loan from Japan would be complemented by a P116.5 billion counterpart from the Philippine government.
Batan said the cost would cover the purchase of 13 sets of electric trains similar to the Light Rail Transit in Metro Manila. Each set would have eight coaches that could accommodate 340 passengers at any time.
Once fully operational by 2021, the railway project would reduce travel time between Malolos, Bulacan to Manila to only 35 minutes, from the current one hour.
