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The Department of Transportation signed a P367-billion contract for the provision of rolling stock for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) Phase 1 by a Japanese joint venture contractor
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The contract includes the design, supply, installation, construction, testing, and commissioning of 240 train cars for the subway project
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A single train of the MMSP would have a maximum capacity of 2,242 passengers and potentially remove up to 1,300 cars, 220 jeepneys, or 60 buses from Metro Manila roads
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has signed a contract for the supply of 240 train cars for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) by a Japanese joint venture (JV) contractor.
DOTr and the JV of Japan Transport Engineering Co. and Sumitomo Corp. signed on December 21 Contract Package 107 on providing the rolling stock for the MMSP Phase 1.
The contract was virtually signed by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Sumitomo Corp. general manager for social infrastructure business division Hidemasa Kozawa.
The contract, with a total approved cost of almost P367 billion and financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), includes the design, supply, installation, construction, testing, and commissioning of 240 train cars for the subway project.
“Indeed, the sustainable solution to our traffic congestion is a buildup of our mass transportation network, including with high capacity train lines,” DOTr undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan said in a statement.
He said that the arrival of the first tunnel boring machine in January 2021 and the ceremonial contract signing for the subway’s 30 eight-car train sets put the DOTr “on track to delivering the Metro Manila Subway, a pipe dream for almost five decades, that is now turning into a reality.”
Batan said a single train of the MMSP would have a maximum capacity of 2,242 passengers and would potentially remove up to 1,300 cars, 220 jeepneys, or 60 buses from Metro Manila roads.
Once completed and fully operational, the MMSP will be an expansive 36-kilometer railway system with 15 stations starting from Quirino Highway in Quezon City and ending at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City and Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) in Taguig City, in the process crossing seven local governments and passing through three of Metro Manila’s business districts.
The underground rail line is expected to serve 370,000 passengers daily in its first year of full operations, and is targeted to be partially operable by 2021.
The subway project aims to ease traffic congestion, meet fast-rising transport demand, and reduce air pollution in the country’s premier urban center.
A flagship project under the administration’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, the first phase of the Metro Manila subway will be constructed using cutting-edge Japanese tunneling technology and a JPY104.53 billion (about P49.11 billion or US$943.34 million) loan from Japan.
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DOTr said that since Metro Manila’s weather and seismic conditions are very similar to those of Japan, the Metro Manila Subway is employing proven Japanese technologies to make the railway system resilient to natural disasters.