In a bid to give way for the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), daily trips of the Philippine National Railways’ (PNR) Alabang to Calamba route will be temporarily suspended starting Friday, June 2.

Only two trips will be affected by the route’s closure?the 4:38 am trip and 7:56 pm trip. About 467 commuters take each trip daily.

According to Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez, an elevated, double-track and electrified train system will be built directly above the existing PNR tracks, speeding up the construction of the NSCR by eight months.

The new NSCR system will replace the PNR’s present street level, single track and diesel locomotive set-up.

While the NSCR is being constructed along the route, the following PNR stations will be temporarily unavailable: Alabang, Muntinlupa, San Pedro, Binan, Sta. Rosa, Cabuyao, Mamatid, and Calamba.

Once completed, the 147-km NSCR will cut travel time from Clark Airport in Pampanga to Calamba in Laguna to less than two hours, from 4-4.5 hours. It is set to accommodate 800,000 passengers a day. During its construction, approximately 110,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be generated. DOTr