The Philippine government, through its Department of Transportation (DOTr), has announced a call for bids from Japanese suppliers for the procurement of electrical, mechanical and track work operations for the massive North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project.

The contract covers the overall development of key railway components of the NSCR. This includes procurement of approximately 107 km of double track works, signalling systems, telecommunications hardware and software, power supplies and overhead contact lines.

Moreover, the contract oversees the implementation of an automatic fare collection system for cashless transactions, a computerised maintenance management system, and platform screen doors in all of its 35 stations. It also directs the procurement of facilities for depots, workshop equipment and training centres for railway and train maintenance and staff development purposes.

Funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the NSCR system is one of the Duterte administration’s big-ticket infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” programme.

The NSCR project, a mega railway network spanning 147 kilometres, is situated along the tracks of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) and is composed of three segments, namely PNR Clark 1 (Malolos-Tutuban), PNR Clark 2 (Malolos-Clark), which will feature the Philippines’ first airport express service, and PNR Calamba (Solis-Calamba).

The NSCR is expected to reduce traffic congestion to and from the Manila metropolitan area and boost economic growth in the railways’ thoroughfares and surroundings, especially in Central and Southern Luzon.

More details of the procurement contract are available on the DOTr and PNR websites.

(Source: Republic of the Philippines, Department of Transportation)