KDDI Philippines announced that it will build telecommunications infrastructure and toll collection system for the first subway system in the Philippines.
Last December, the company signed a contract with Thales to participate in a project that would establish a 30 kilometer long subway system connecting the northern city of Valenzuela and the southern city of Manila’s Para Aque.
Last February, this French transportation system company was selected as part of a larger consortium chosen by Mitsubishi to design and build a railway system for the Philippine capital, costing approximately 1 billion euros (1.09 billion US dollars).
Thales will provide integrated communication and monitoring (ICS) and automatic toll collection (AFC) systems for the project, valued at 156 million euros (170 million US dollars).
KDDI Philippines will participate in the subway project with other partner companies of Thales. Telecommunications infrastructure includes pipeline components, cable engineering, and equipment installation, while toll collection systems include the installation of ticket gates and vending machines, as well as the transportation of communication equipment, servers, and other equipment.
The KDDI project covers 15 stations, from East Valenzuela Station to Terminal 3 of NAIA (Nino Aquino International Airport), as well as a depot and operational control center. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2029.
For over 30 years, due to the inability of public transportation to keep up with population growth, the metropolitan area of Manila has been plagued by increasingly severe traffic congestion, with a current population of approximately 13.5 million.
According to Japan’s official development assistance (ODA), the economic losses caused by this perennial disaster can reach up to 3.5 billion Philippine pesos (62.6 million US dollars) per day. It adds that traffic congestion has become an obstacle to smooth logistics and mobility, and has reduced the international competitiveness of the Philippines.
Official development assistance is provided to fund the subway system under a loan agreement signed with the Philippine government in March 2018.
After completion, the new underground mass transportation is expected to shorten the travel time from Quezon City to NAIA from 1 hour and 10 minutes to 35 minutes. After the subway system is put into operation, it is expected to transport one million passengers per day.