CLARK FREEPORT—The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and its Japanese partners, the joint venture of Sumitomo Corp. and Japan Transport Engineering Co. (J-TREC), on Tuesday signed the contract for the manufacture of train coaches for Package 3: Rolling Stock of the PNR Clark Phase 1 Tutuban-Malolos at the Marriott Hotel here.
The P12.1-billion supply contract was signed by Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and PNR Chairman Roberto Lastimoso for the government, and Sumitomo Corp. General Manager Hiroshi Karashima, and J-TREC President Takao Nishiyama.
Tugade said the plan is to have eight trains per set to be manufactured by their Japanese partners.
“So that if we have 13 sets, we have around 104 trains similar to those and the capacity is 2,200. These trains will be traveling from Tutuban to Clark to Calamba,” Tugade said.
“This is the reason we are all here today, to sign an agreement where the prototypes you see will come into fruition by 2021,” Tugade added, pointing to the miniature prototype displayed at the venue.
He said the contract that was signed indicated that the trains shall be delivered in full by the end of the last quarter of 2021.
However, he said he prodded their Japanese partners to deliver the trains by the third quarter of 2021 instead of the last quarter, so that the Tutuban-Clark-Calamba route can be realized at the end of the year 2021.
“Let me tell you that this morning, prior to entering this room, I talked to Mr. Nishiyama in the presence of Jica [Japan International Cooperation Agency] and we have agreed to do a fast-track mechanism so that the trains committed to be delivered on the fourth quarter of 2021 shall be delivered no later than the third quarter of 2021,” Tugade said.
“Why are we doing this? Why are we agreeing to fast-track the manufacture of these trains? Because I have promised the President that we will have the partial operability of the Tutuban-Clark-Calamba by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021,” he explained.
“If the trains will be delivered by the fourth quarter of 2021, then I cannot operate the trains before 2021,” he reasoned.
“So, today the first agenda that we talked about prior to our coming here is to [forge] an agreement in principle that we will strive to work together so that the trains will be delivered on the third quarter of 2021.” This, he added, will ensure the “partial operability of the Tutuban-Clark-Calamba route” by the end of 2021, Tugade said.
The PNR Clark Phase 1 (Tutuban-Malolos) broke ground on February 15, 2019. The 37.6-kilometer, elevated mass railway system will connect Malolos to Manila and will entail 10 stations.
The trains can run up to 120 kilometers per hour, and reduce the travel time between Manila and Bulacan from over one hour and 30 minutes to 35 minutes once the system is fully operational by 2022.
The project is funded by Jica under a ¥241.991-billion or P93.457-billion loan agreement signed in November 2015.
The PNR Tutuban-Malolos line will be integrated with the PNR Malolos-Clark project and the PNR South Commuter—Manila to Calamba, Laguna, project—to form an integrated commuter railway system that will serve commuters traveling to, from, and within NCR, Region 3 and Region 4A.
The full interoperability of the entire PNR North-South Commuter Railway is expected to happen in 2023.
The signing was followed by the Japanese traditional ceremony, the Sake Barrel Breaking Ceremony, where Tugade made a toast to every guest with the traditional Japanese rice wine.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/07/17/dotr-inks-deal-with-japanese-jv-on-making-of-rail-coaches-for-train-coaches-for-tutuban-malolos-railway/
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