THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) said on Monday that it was looking for consultants for the planned extension of the Subic-Clark cargo railway.

In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing, DoTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said that talks were ongoing to develop a feasibility study for this plan.

"Yes, this plan (for the railway) is new. We aim to extend it (from Clark) to Manila and Batangas, and it will be just one line," said Bautista.

"We plan to submit a new feasibility study regarding this, and we are in the process of procuring a consultant who will craft this study. So hopefully in a few weeks or months, we will begin looking for one so we can officially start it (the feasibility study)," he said.

In April 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. secured the commitments of Japan and the US to support the development of a railway project linking Subic, Clark and Batangas during a trilateral summit last April in Washington, D.C.

Manila, Washington and Tokyo announced the launch of the Luzon Economic Corridor, which will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas.

The three leaders said that through the corridor, they were committed to accelerating coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects at Subic Bay.

These include rail projects ports modernization, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments, agribusiness and civilian port upgrades.

The Subic-Clark cargo railway project is part of the DoTr's plan to create a logistics hub in Central Luzon, which will link the Port of Subic in Zambales to Clark, Pampanga.