Philippines eyes October 2026 contract award for North-South Commuter Railway PPP

The government expects to award a contract to operate and maintain its flagship North-South Commuter Railway by the fourth quarter of 2026 as it seeks private-sector partners to run one of its largest infrastructure projects.

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The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said bid documents will be finalized by April 2026, with the tender process slated for July and August and evaluations and negotiations to follow through September, setting up a targeted contract award in October 2026.

Japanese railway operators Tokyo Metro, JR East and JR West, along with Mitsubishi Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., previously expressed interest, alongside French transport groups Transdev, RATP, Keolis and Alstom.

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Philippine conglomerates San Miguel Corp. and First Balfour Inc. are also among prospective bidders.

The operations and maintenance public-private partnership tender was launched on Oct. 20, 2025, marking one of the first major infrastructure projects rolled out under the country’s new Public-Private Partnership Code and its implementing rules and regulations.

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“The bidding is open to all interested foreign and local parties, subject to conditions for qualification under the bidding documents of the project, the Constitution, the PPP Code and PPP Code IRR, and other applicable laws and jurisprudence,” the Department of Transportation said.

“Bidders may participate in the bidding process and be given access to the virtual data room upon payment of a non-refundable participation fee of P1.16 million,” it added.

Stretching 147 kilometers from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Calamba in Laguna, the railway is expected to cut end-to-end travel time to less than 2.5 hours, from about four hours by road, offering a faster link between the capital region and key growth corridors.

The project will introduce the Philippines’ first airport express service, connecting Clark to Makati in under an hour and to Alabang in about 75 minutes, and will allow through-train operations with the Metro Manila Subway.

At full operations, the 35-station system is expected to serve close to one million passengers daily and generate about 350,000 jobs during construction and operations.

Partial operations on the Valenzuela-to-Malolos segment are scheduled to begin in December 2027, with the Malolos-to-Clark section targeted to come online by October 2028.—Bilyonaryo.com