Study to extend North South Commuter Railway to New Clark City underway

The North South Commuter Railway (NSCR) extension leading to New Clark City (NCC) is shown in illustration provided by the Department of Transportation.

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga – A study is underway on the right-of-way and feasibility of extending the North South Commuter Railway (NSCR) to the New Clark City (NCC), an official said.

The extension may run a length of 20 kilometers from the NSCR’s depot beside the Clark International Airport (CRK), according to Arrey Perez, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp., the state-owned firm overseeing the operations and maintenance of the CRK, which has been run by the private consortium LIPAD since 2019.

If the extension to NCC pushes through, it would be adding another line after the Clark-Malolos line, Malolos-Tutuban line, and Manila – Calamba line.

READ: Work starts on P16.9-B Calamba train depot of North-South railway

Perez said Joshua Bingcang, president of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the mother agency of CIAC, recommended the NCC line of the railway to push for the development of the new 9,500-hectare metropolitan area.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr), which is implementing the NSCR, was tasked with doing the study, he said.

The NSCR spans a total of 147 kilometers from Clark to Laguna, passing through 35 stations in 28 cities and towns and using the former right-of-way of the defunct Philippine National Railway.

According to the DOTr, the National Economic and Development Authority approved its project cost of P877.63 billion, with co-financing from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank. INQ

The DOTr has not announced a new timetable for the completion of the whole NSCR, given the delay in site readiness at the Clark depot.