After a recent site inspection, the Department of Transportation announced that the North-South Commuter Railway will begin partial operations by 2027. According to transportation undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan, this first phase will open the 27km and seven-station segment from Malanday, Valenzuela, to Malolos, Bulacan.
This will be followed by the 53km stretch between Malolos and the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, scheduled for late 2028 to early 2029. Batan then reiterated that by 2029, commuters will be able to use the NSCR from Valenzuela to CIA.
Full line operations are now expected to be complete by 2033. Initially, the DOTr aimed to finish the NSCR by 2027, but delays pushed it back to 2032. Hopefully, this comes as the final pushback, and we’ll have trains running next year.
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DOTr: NSCR timeline as of October 2026
- Partial Operations 1: Malanday, Valenzuela to Malolos, Bulacan — End of 2027
- Partial Operations 2: Malolos, Bulacan to Clark International Airport — End of 2028 to early 2029
- South Commuter Railway: Alabang, Muntinlupa to Calamba, Laguna — 2031
- Full line operations: Clark International Airport to Calamba, Laguna — 2033
The DOTr did not specify when the segments and stations north of Alabang would be complete. Those include the stops at Caloocan, España, and Bicutan. Moreover, the agency also did not comment on the planned extension to New Clark City in Tarlac.
In its current form, the NSCR will span 147.26km, with 35 stations, and an estimated ridership of 800,000 passengers a day. End-to-end travel time between CIA and Calamba is expected to be just two hours. Four of the 51 total train sets have been delivered and are currently at the Malanday Depot.
