The Rehabilitation of The North-South Commuter Railway or NSCR in the Philippines

When we talk about how it is to commute in the Philippines, you’ll always hear a lot of negative remarks and complaints as it is that hard to commute in the Metro. There’s always a need which is really long overdue to improve how we travel from one location to the other. The flow of traffic is so heavy, there’s not enough utility vehicles, and probably the worst is, there’s not enough facilities for the commuting public to use.  

Thankfully, some of those problems if not all, is now being solved with a promising solutions. There are now a lot of infrastructure projects to aid the commuting public making their travels more convenient.

New roads are being built, additional lines of trains are now under construction, there’s even a subway which will make travel from Quezon City to Makati or even Taguig a lot faster than ever, and of course, the renovation of the ever reliable Philippine National Railways.

The PNR Metro Commuter Line was a commuter rail line operated by the Philippine National Railways. It was first inaugurated as the Metro Manila Commuter Service in 1970, and originally served the North Main Line and the South Main Lines, as well as the defunct Carmona and Guadalupe branch lines. Since then, it adopted several names such as Metrotrak and Metrotren, before adopting its present name in the late 2000s. The line was also nicknamed the Orange Line due to its designation in the 1970s.

It temporarily closed on March 28, 2024 to give way for the construction of the North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR), which will assume its role upon completion around 2029. Although the line has been shuttered, there are plans to reinstate its tracks at a later date, following the completion of the new railway system. This closure is expected to last for at least 5 years.

The present line prior to its closure had 36 stations serving Metro Manila and Laguna. It is divided into two sections which meet in Tutuban station in Tondo, Manila. The Metro North Commuter section ran from Tutuban to Governor Pascual station in Malabon and is colored light green in the system map of PNR. On the other hand, the Metro South Commuter section ran from Tutuban to IRRI station in Los Baños, Laguna and was colored orange. Some stations connect to LRT Lines 1 and 2, and MRT Line 3.

Ah, that’s a mouthful of information since it is being used for 5 decades and a lot of renovation plans was taken but it didn’t push through… until now.

Once rehabilitated the Tarlac to Laguna line, here are the complete guide to the 36 stations of NSCR from New Clark City Tarlac to Calamba Laguna.

There are 5 Stations from Pampanga, 8 Stations from Bulacan and 7 Stations at Laguna.

Caloocan and Solis alignment are yet to start due to Right of Way (ROW) issue.

What a seamless ride would it be once the Mega Project were completed?

From Muntinlupa the next Station will already go all the way to San Pedro Laguna.

1. New Clark City

2. Clark International Airport

3. Clark

4. Angeles

5. San Fernando

6. Apalit

7. Calumpit

8. Malolos

9. Guiguinto

10. Balagtas

11. Bocaue

12. Marilao

13. Meycauayan

14. West Valenzuela

15. Caloocan

16. Solis

17. Tutuban

18. Bluementritt

19. Espana

20. Santa Mesa

21. Paco

22. Buendia

23. EDSA

24. Senate-DepED

25. FTI

26. Bicutan

27. Sucat

28. Alabang

29. Muntinlupa

30. San Pedro

31. Pacita

32. Binan

33. Santa Rosa

34. Cabuyao

35. Banlic

36. Calamba

Bulacan Station

With almost 400 Bagons made in Japan, there are four classes of services on this line. The following are:

1. Commuter Train is the basic commuter rail service and has the least priority. It stops at all stations within its route. There are three routes planned for this class; Tutuban–New Clark City, Tutuban–Calamba, and Clark International Airport–Calamba. The maximum speed for this service will be 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour) for the entire line.

2. Commuter Express is the limited-stop service for the line, succeeding the Commex service during the Metrotren era in the early 2000s. Although it will run faster than regular commuter trains, it will still use the same routes and rolling stock.

3. The Airport Limited Express is the temporary designation for the planned airport rail link and limited express service between Clark International Airport and Alabang station. As the flagship NSCR service, it will use dedicated rolling stock complete with intercity-grade amenities plus baggage space for people arriving from the airport. It will have a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) along the NSCR North. As of January 2022, the final name for the service is yet to be determined.

SUSTINA Trainsets

4. Subway through-service is the proposed augmentation between the NSCR and the Metro Manila Subway. It will serve the southernmost areas of Metro Manila and neighboring Laguna, branching from the subway line at FTI station while the remainder of the line will go towards the direction of NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay. It will use the Subway trainsets instead of the NSCR ones, although both are from the Sustina family.

We will try to posts updates about this projects soon ;-)

Cheerio!