The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is looking to award the lucrative operations and maintenance (O&M) contract for the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) to a private concession within the first half of 2026, as it completes an initial pitch of the project to local and foreign investors.

The DOTr said it has wrapped up a series of market sounding activities for the ₱229-billion contract to operate and maintain the railway that aims to bring seamless connectivity between Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and Calabarzon.

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the fourth and final leg of the market sounding in Japan attracted 28 of the country’s top companies engaged in the railway sector.

Batan said the likes of Mitsubishi Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo Metro, Sumitomo Corp., and Alstom Japan, attended the NSCR roadshow.

He said the strong interest from these firms shows that the DOTr is on the right track in terms of structuring and developing the O&M concession for NSCR.

“Parties will only attend and continue participating if they see that it’s a good project being put out together,” said Batan.

Last Sept. 4, Batan led market sounding at the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, which saw the participation of 22 foreign and local companies.

The official said the DOTr is open to do business with all investors, even first-time investors in the Philippines, given the urgency to cut commuting time among commuters.

The DOTr earlier pitched the concession to operate and maintain NSCR to investors in Singapore and France.

Batan said the agency will now consolidate all feedback from prospective investors into the forthcoming bidding documents for the concession agreement.

To commence the bidding process, the DOTr is expected to put out the bidding notice within the last week of September or the first week of October.

The ADB, which the DOTr has tapped to provide technical advisory services for flagship transport projects, anticipates the bidding period to run over the next six months.

The Manila-based multilateral lender estimates that the concession will be awarded to a private operator within March or April next year.

“We really look forward to welcoming partners who can join the government of the Philippines on this very important journey of creating world-class real assets and also running them with world-class quality,” said ADB office of markets development and public-private partnership (PPP) director Siddhartha Shah.

Last week, Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the NSCR concession will be up for bidding next month instead of its original September schedule.

Lopez said delaying the start of the bidding process will give the DOTr more time to introduce the project to potential bidders.

The contract for the O&M of NSCR covers trains, depots, stations, guideways, electromechanical systems, and auxiliary facilities, from Clark to Calamba.

It will also include the management of interoperations of NSCR with the under-construction Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP), particularly at the Bicutan to Calamba segment.

The ₱229-billion contract will have a concession period of 15 years.

Pre-operations of NSCR are scheduled to begin in March 2026, with full operations targeted for January 2032.

The 35-station railway will shorten travel time from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Calamba in Laguna from four hours to less than three hours, accommodating 750,000 passengers daily at full operations.