By Junex Doronio
CEBU CITY — After 79 years of absence, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has bared plans to reintroduce the railway to Cebu island province which is now experiencing heavy traffic due to its increasing population and developing economy.
Local officials here welcomed the DOTR’s plan as they noted that Cebu used to have a railway system that connected Argao in the south to Danao in the north, but it was severely damaged during the Second World War.
“The beauty of the subway as first seen in the subway in Metro Manila is that between stations, we are tunneling underground and people don’t even know that we are already building underground, and that is what we are planning to do in Cebu,” DOTr Undersecretary Timothy John Batan disclosed after meeting with Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia last Thursday (29 February 2024).
He presented to Garcia the “Metro Cebu Urban Transport Master Plan.”
However, Batan admitted that the project is still in the pre-planning stages and still has to come up with a concrete timeline and estimated costs, including the source of funding.
He told reporters the plan is to build a 67.5-kilometer underground passenger railway line or subway system connecting Carcar City in the south to Danao City in the north.
Batan added that this will resemble the ongoing construction of the 33-kilometer Metro Manila Subway in the National Capital Region (NCR).
(el Amigo/MNM)
