The government is betting on an expanding railway network to draw motorists out of private vehicles and onto mass transit as chronic congestion continues to weigh on mobility in Metro Manila.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) reported on Wednesday that the Metro Manila Subway Project reached another construction milestone after a tunnel boring machine completed the southbound tunnel connection between the North Avenue and Quezon Avenue stations.

Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said expanding rail transport is key to addressing congestion across Greater Manila.

“You know, all of us have been victims or continue to be victims of traffic, especially here in Metro Manila or at least Greater Manila. The DOTr still believes that one of the real solutions to solve traffic, the really severe traffic, is what we call the mass public transportation system, and the best mass public transportation system is our railways,” Lopez said.

The subway will complement MRT-7, the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), MRT-3, LRT-1 and LRT-2, giving commuters more alternatives to road transport.

“Once this subway becomes operational together with our other rail lines such as MRT-7, our NSCR, and our existing rail lines such as MRT-3, Line 1 and Line 2 of the LRT, we can say that we will no longer waste time in traffic and eventually we can be assured that somehow the quality of life of every Filipino will improve,” Lopez said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who inspected the tunnel breakthrough with Lopez, said the project is gradually taking shape.

“We are here at Quezon Avenue because the tunnel boring machine has broken through; it has come out.

That is why we are here to celebrate the breakthrough of the tunnel boring machine. We were a little out of breath because what we climbed was high (35 meters). You can see that our Subway Project is slowly taking shape. 

Once this is finished, those who live here will be very fortunate because they will have a subway, they will have the MRT, they will have many routes,” Marcos said.

The completed tunnel is part of Contract Package 102, covering the Quezon Avenue and East Avenue stations and their connections to North Avenue.

Once fully operational, the 33-kilometer subway is expected to cut travel time from Valenzuela City to NAIA Terminal 3 to about 41 minutes from one hour and 30 minutes.

Financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the 17-station railway is projected to serve about 519,000 passengers daily in its opening year, with capacity for more than one million passengers.