President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, July 22, 2024. In this Sona, he mentions the Luzon Economic Corridor initiative, which includes a plan for a Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas railway. | Screenshot from an RTVM Live video
MANILA, Philippines — The funding for a feasibility study for a Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas railway is being prepared, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement on Friday.
The railway project is part of the Luzon Economic Corridor initiative unveiled last April during the trilateral summit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
According to the DOTr, the plan for the railway was hatched after Marcos mentioned the initiative in his third State of the Nation Address last Monday.
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“We are now getting a feasibility study ready for this Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas rail,” Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said in Filipino during the post-SONA discussions on Wednesday, as quoted in the statement.
This railway project is an extended system.
“Unfortunately, our Subic-Clark Railway did not get the financing that we were hoping for. So we did another study and got the idea of making it a Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas railway,” Batan said.
Specifically, the project aims to connect Subic Port with Clark International Airport, the Port of Manila, and the Port of Batangas.
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The project will be a joint initiative with the US, Sweden, and the Asian Development Bank if it is ever pushes through, the DOTr said.