The tunneling and excavation works for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMPS) signifies the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) “point of no return” to complete the country’s first-ever underground railway system, according to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.
“Today’s start of tunneling work signifies the point of no return. We are going full speed ahead to complete the country’s first subway,” Secretary Bautista said Monday, 09 January 2023, during the launching of the MMSP’s tunnel boring machine (TBM). Secretary Bautista joined President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in launching the TBM in Valenzuela City.
With the launching of the the deployment of the tunnel boring machine, actual construction for Metro Manila Subway will commence as it will set in motion the operation and initiate its movement for excavation.
Secretary Bautista stressed the value of interconnectivity of the country’s various transport infrastructures and said that there is an “urgent need” to provide a railway station at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the wake of the holiday rush.
“During the recent holiday rush when I inspected NAIA Terminal 3, I discovered the urgent need of providing a railway station as one of the multi-modal land-based transport options for arriving passengers,” he explained.
The MMSP’s Contract Package 101 (CP101) is part of the seven civil work contracts of the project, and involves the construction of three underground stations in Quezon City and an additional semi-underground station in the northern-most part of the Valenzuela City depot.
Six (6) units of Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) will be utilized for CP101 to complete the excavation for the tunnels and will use a top-down construction method for the construction of the stations.
Around 1,200,000 cubic meters of soil using cut-cover and the TBMs are to be excavated for the partial operability (PO) section of the project or an equivalent of five hundred (500) Olympic size swimming pools. For the tunnels alone, the excavation will be around 711,000 cubic meters or an equivalent of 285 Olympic size swimming pools.
The entire alignment will have a total excavated soil of about 7,419,940 cubic meters or an equivalent of 2,500 Olympic size swimming pools.
Billed as the Philippines’ “Crown Jewel” of mass transit system, the Metro Manila Subway will cut across eight cities that will stretch from Valenzuela City to FTI-Bicutan in Parañaque City with a spur line to NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City.
With a total of 33-kilometer route length and 17 stations, the country’s first underground railway system aims to cut travel time between Quezon City and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City from the present one hour and 10 minutes to just 35 minutes.
Once operational, the railway system can service up to 370,000 passengers daily.
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