CLARK FREEPORT – Construction of the cargo railway that will connect the Clark International Airport to Subic Freeport will start next year and is slated to be completed by 2022.
This was what Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade assured folk in Central Luzon during the Sulong Pilipinas forum held here Monday.
“It will be a 70-kilometer railway that will connect Subic port with Clark International Airport and other economic hubs in Luzon,” Tugade said in his briefing during the forum, but did not give more details.
This, even as he also said that the railway from Tutuban, Manila to Malolos City in Bulacan is expected to start anytime. “This will eventually connect to Clark.” he added.
Tugade already broke ground for the Tutuban-Malolos segment way back last January. Meanwhile, Tugade also said that construction of the country´s first subway system, designed to ease traffic in Metro Manila, is pushing through.
He said the 25.3-kilometer underground railway would connect north and south of Greater Manila, Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna, and would have 13 stations, including a stop at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The first phase of the subway would stretch from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Food Terminal Inc area in Taguig City, as well as to NAIA.
Tugade said the subway is slated to start operations by 2022 and fully operational by 2025 to accommodate 370,000 passengers a day on its first year of operations.
When finished, the subway would have cost some P357 bilion with partial funding from Japan.
Tugade also stressed that similar railways projects are being done in the Visayas and Mindanao. “The Mindanao railway has been delayed because I objected to the design. The railways in Luzon and Visayas would have two tracks, while the railway initially proposed for Mindanao had only one track. So, I insisted that Mindanao should also have two tracks. We live in only one republic after all,” he said during the forum.
