(Photo grabbed from Inquire.net)
CLARK FREEPORT — Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade said construction of Phase 1 of the railway project from Tutuban in Manila to Malolos, Bulacan will start in January next year, while Phase 2 from Malolos to this freeport will start in May, also next year.
Speaking before Central Luzon stakeholders during the recent Sulong Pilipinas forum here, Tugade said he expected the two projects to be completed by 2022. T
ugade noted that “Phase I is a 38-km segment spanning from Tutuban (in Metro Manila) to Malolos City in Bulacan. It will have 10 stations and can accommodate up to 340,000 passengers per day.”
“Phase 2, on the other hand, is a 53-km stretch from Malolos City to Clark. The project is on detailed design stage and we will start the construction on May 2019 and completion targeted by 2022. It will have six stations and can accommodate 340,000 passengers per day as well,” Tugade said.
“We are now in the bidding process for this project, we will make sure that in two and a half or three years that railway from Tutuban to Clark will be accomplished,” he added.
Tugade also said construction of Subic-Clark Cargo Railway is slated in 2019 and will be completed by 2022.
This is a 70-km railway that will connect Subic Port with Clark International Airport and other economic hubs in Luzon, he explained.
“When all of these projects will be accomplished, you can just imagine the logistics hub which we are trying to create in Central Luzon,” Tugade said.
“I feel that creating a logistics hub here can be a reality as it will be ideal because then, you will have an airport, a highway, a seaport and a railway,” Tugade added.
