The Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) is almost two-thirds complete and is on track to be fully operational by November 2025. In an update on Tuesday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the MRT-7 project is 63.28 percent complete as of October and training of its workforce is ongoing. The 22-km. rail line will have 14 stations and connect Quezon City to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan province. Once operational, it aims to reduce the present two-hour drive from end-to-end to a 35-minute train ride. During the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from Nov. 3 to 4, DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez assured that the Philippine Rail Institute (PRI) is already training the 'critical mass' of engineers, technicians, and operators to ensure that the MRT-7 would be ready to serve the public once completed. He highlighted the 'pivotal role' of Japan in the PRI through the expertise of its professors, instructors, and other personnel who all benefited from Japanese training. The core of the PRI's professionals, he said, received specialized training in Japan. He also thanked Kishida for Japan's donation of a state-of-the-art train simulator room. During his visit, Kishida was given a hands-on experience with the train simulator and inspected the Japan-made tunnel-boring machine at the Metro Manila Subway depot in Valenzuela City. To date, nine big-ticket transport projects in the country are funded through official development assistance from Japan amounting to 1.315 trillion Japanese yen. These consist of two aviation, two maritime, and five railway projects.

Source: Philippines News Agency