Steel-reinforced columns now stand where century-old tracks of the old Philippine National Railways once transported generations of Filipino commuters.

The government shut down the country’s main commuter railway in March 2024 to make way for its replacement. Nearly two years later, the trains that were supposed to replace it still have no tracks to run on.

Across Manila, Makati and Taguig, construction crews are slowly raising viaducts that will eventually carry the trains of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR).

The delayed NSCR has been billed as the answer to the need for cheap, efficient modern public transport that would put the country on par with its neighbors.

As of March 2026, the 147-kilometer NSCR project, spanning Clark in Pampanga through Metro Manila to Calamba in Laguna, remains mired in delays, with right-of-way acquisitions only at over half the required number for the northern segment.

Officials aim to secure the land for the Malolos-to-Clark stretch by June 2026, while housing for over 16,000 displaced families is slated for completion by year’s end.

The vision is ambitious: a fully elevated, 35-station line integrated with other systems like the Metro Manila Subway, promising fares of P20 to P30 per segment and capacity for up to 800,000 daily passengers once completed by the target, which is perennially moved and is now at 2032.

The massive project is intended to restore the rail backbone the country once had. But for now, the landscape is dominated by unfinished infrastructure, idle tracks, and commuters waiting for a system that has yet to arrive at the station.

The Philippines, once the first in Southeast Asia to build a modern train system, now watches its neighbors race ahead while its own tracks remain unfinished.

The 147-kilometer North–South Commuter Railway is designed to connect Calamba, Laguna, to Clark, Pampanga, cutting travel time across Luzon to under two hours and serving hundreds of thousands of passengers daily.

The line is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank and is considered one of the most ambitious transportation projects in the country’s history.

Yet years into construction, the project remains uneven.

Six years after construction began on the northern section of the project, the DAILY TRIBUNE visited station sites in Guiguinto, Bulacan, and the boundary of Meycauayan and Valenzuela, including a station near the National Food Authority office.

Façade’s progress

From a distance, the elevated structures appeared complete. But closer inspection revealed unfinished stations and trackways without rails.

Residents said construction activity slowed during the pandemic when work at some sites stalled.

Some residents of Masagana Homes Phase 3 in Guiguinto were displaced as the project advanced, eventually relocating to Northville in Malis, Guiguinto.