The joint venture of Leighton Asia and First Balfour has begun construction on a vital component of the North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR), the country’s largest railway project.
The partnership has started building the diaphragm wall for the underground Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) station in Taguig City, part of the NSCR’s 6.1-kilometer segment awarded to the joint venture in 2023.
The reinforced concrete wall will provide structural support for the FTI station, which will serve as a key intermodal hub linking the NSCR to the Metro Manila Subway Project.
Representatives from the Department of Transportation’s Project Management Office (DOTr-PMO), the Greater Capital Railway Consortium (GCR-PMO), and the joint venture marked the construction milestone with a brief ceremony.
The 147-km NSCR will connect Clark in Pampanga to Calamba in Laguna, serving up to 800,000 passengers daily with trains running at speeds of up to 130 km/h.
The Leighton–First Balfour contract covers tunneling, civil works, and station construction for the NSCR 03-B segment, including 4.7 km of twin tube tunnels and 1.4 km of ground-level and cut-and-cover structures.
The FTI station’s completion is expected to ease congestion and improve connectivity across Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
First Balfour, a unit of the Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp., and Leighton Asia, a major regional contractor, are both known for their involvement in large-scale infrastructure projects across Asia.
