QC-to-Rizal MRT line to start in 2023

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) expects construction at the planned Metro Rail Transit Line 4 (MRT 4) from Quezon City to Rizal province to begin in 2023 and the detailed engineering design phase to be launched within the year.

With a history stretching back to the Ramos administration in 1995, the MRT 4 is among the big ticket infrastructure projects moving forward under President Duterte.

Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said during a briefing last week the P59.3-billion project is being supported by the Asian Development Bank, which will procure the detailed design and engineering consultant within March.

The MRT-4 will span 15.56 kilometers and will have 11 stations plus two provisional stations from N. Domingo in Quezon City to Taytay, Rizal.

The railway project will have stops in Bonny Serrano, Greenhills, Edsa, Meralco (Manila Electric Co.), Tiendesitas, Rosario, St. Joseph, Cainta, San Juan, Tikling and Manila East Road. It will be designed to serve about 220,000 passengers a day.

The MRT-4 was approved by the board of the National Economic and Development Authority on Jan. 29, 2020.

It is part of the government’s push to significantly expand  the country’s railway network from just 77 km in 2016 to about 1,209 km by 2022.

Batan said mass transit systems such as railway projects would cut massive costs associated with urban congestion. In 2017, he said economic losses amounted to almost P1.3 trillion a year in the greater capital region, which includes Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Spending across private and government railway projects until 2025 will reach more than P740 billion, data from the DOTr showed.

This includes projects carried over from the previous administration such as the Light Rail Transit Line 1 extension to Cavite, a Public Private Partnership contract, and portions of the North South Commuter railway.

New projects include the country’s first ever underground train, the Japanese-funded P356-billion Metro Manila subway, and China-funded projects such as the P50.3-billion Subic Clark Railway and P81.7-billion Mindanao Railway project (Tagum-Davao-Digos segment).

The DOTr is also building a common station in Quezon City that will serve to link the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, LRT-1 and MRT-7.