A joint venture between Lopez Group’s engineering arm First Balfour and Hong Kong construction giant Leighton Asia has started erecting the diaphragm-wall for a crucial underground train station that is part of the Philippines’ largest railway venture, the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project.
The Leighton-First Balfour Joint Venture (LFBJV) is constructing the reinforced concrete diaphragm-wall which will provide support and foundational stability for the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) train station underneath Bicutan in Taguig City.
The NSCR, a 147-kilometer (km) urban rail system, will span from Clark Freeport in Pampanga to Calamba, Laguna, once completed. It is designed to cut travel time and carry up to 800,000 daily commuters, with trains running at speeds up to 130 km per hour.
The underground FTI station will serve as an intermodal transfer hub connecting the ground-level and elevated sections of the NSCR with the underground Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP).
The MMSP, another railway project currently under construction, is a 33-km. line designed to ease commuting between Valenzuela City and Bicutan.
Constructing the FTI station is part of the NSCR 03-B segment, which the Department of Transportation–Project Management Office (DOTR-PMO) awarded to the LFBJV in 2023.
The multi-billion-peso segment covers civil engineering, tunnel construction and building works for a 6.1-km. railway segment. The section consists of 4.7 km. of twin tube tunnels with cross passages and 1.4 km. of cut and cover and ground-level structures.
To mark the milestone, representatives from the DOTR-PMO, the Greater Capital Railway Consortium–Project Management Office (GCR-PMO), and the LFBJV project management team recently held a simple ceremony.
The DOTR-PMO oversees the entire NSCR project, while the GCR-PMO monitors construction progress and ensures technical compliance for its segment.
First Balfour, a subsidiary of Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp., has a track record in constructing major infrastructure projects in the country, including the North Luzon Expressway and the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension.
Leighton Asia operates in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, participating in complex tunnels, rail networks and roads.
