China Exports of HSR, Trains, Metro, Tram, Rolling Stocks, etc: News

[JSCh]

Cambodia seeks China-made panda-shaped 'sky train'
2018-01-16 12:59 Ecns.cn Editor: Mo Hong'e ECNS App Download

A Cambodian delegation visits the workshop of Zhongtang Sky Train Group in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Jan. 15, 2018. (Photo: China News Service/Zhong Xin)

(ECNS) -- The Chinese company behind the panda-shaped "sky train" said it hopes to introduce the project into Cambodia.

Zhongtang Sky Train Group, a company based in Chengdu City of Sichuan Province and specializing in suspension railway technologies, welcomed a delegation from the Cambodian government on Monday.

Members of the delegation were provided with details of the suspension "sky train" technology and also took a ride in the company's compound in Chengdu.

Representatives of the company visited Cambodia last year and this reciprocal visit from the Cambodian side will push forward substantial progress, sources said.

According to the plan, the "sky train" will run on a 10-kilometer-long road connecting a central railway station and an airport in Cambodia. Other projects, including Phnom Penh's international convention and exhibition center, five-star hotels and shopping malls, will also be built along the line.

The train features black-and-white carriages and was put into trial operation in Chengdu in November 2016. It hung from a white rail above ground and was tested along a 1.4-kilometer route.

The train is powered by lithium batteries rather than high-voltage electricity, which will avoid exhaust emission and reduce building costs, according to the company.

 

[JSCh]

Argentina's railroad transformed by Chinese-made trains
New China TV Published on Jan 16, 2018

One of Argentina's most important rail line's monthly transportation capacity has been raised by around 200 thousand tons, thanks to new locomotives and wagons from Chinese company CRRC Qishuya. The San Martin Cargo line runs through Santa Fe province, which is around 250 kilometers north of Buenos Aires. Employees at the state-owned Trenes Argentinos said the new trains have helped to make transport more efficient and have also improved working conditions.

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese railway construction firm to build three metro stations in Moscow
China Plus, January 26, 2018

China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) is set to build three metro stations of the Third Interchange Circuit in the Russian capital city by the end of 2019, according to Marat Khusnullin, deputy mayor of Moscow for urban development policy and construction.

Khusnullin said the Beijing-based state-owned railway construction firm will start the construction of the three metro stations and main line tunnels between them in the near future. The total length of the project is around 3.6 kilometers.


Some news media reported last year that the Moscow municipal government reached an agreement with CRCC to jointly develop the city's southern metro network in October 2016, and CRCC won the bid with about 23 billion rubles (400 million US dollars). The three metro stations are located at Aminyevskoye Shosse, Michurinskyi Prospekt, and Vernadskyi Prospekt, in the southwest of Moscow.


This is the first time a Russian city has invited a foreign company to join a national subway construction project.

 

[JSCh]

Saturday, March 17, 2018, 10:04
Trans-Asian Railway construction on track
By Yang Wanli & Li Yingqing

Yunnan province will speed up construction of the Trans-Asian Railway within the province and aims to complete a railway network connecting China with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

Our goal is to build a modern railway network that could connect the provincial capital, Kunming, with the bordering nations in five hours and neighboring provinces within eight hours

Wang Gengjie, General Manager, China Railway Kunming Group Co.​

Yunnan, in Southwest China, is the center of the Trans-Asian Railway, which is a project to create an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia.

As a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, Wang revealed during the two sessions that all the construction work connecting China with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar is speeding up and expected to be finished by 2021.

Under the current plan, the cross-border railway network will mainly serve freight trains for commercial trade, according to Wang.

The Kunming-Hekou Line connecting Yunnan's capital to the border with Vietnam now has two types of train tracks with different gauges.

The one-meter-wide single track, which matches the track size in Vietnam, has been used for decades and now serves freight trains.

In 2014, the bureau adopted new technology to successfully transform the track size into a wider one, and the one-meter-wide old track still can be used.

The wider track increased the train speed and cut the traveling time from Kunming to Hekou from 18 hours to only six.

"The cargo capacity improved from about 270 metric tons to nearly 4,000 tons with the technology. It has boosted economic development both at home and abroad," Wang said.

Construction of the China-Laos Line, the 414-kilometer railway linking Kunming and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is underway and the line will begin operation by 2021, according to Wang.

Wang said the other two lines－the Dali-Lincang Railway and the Dali-Ruili Railway－aiming to connect with Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries are also under construction.

In addition, construction of the two lines' shared part－the 200-kilometer-per-hour Guangtong-Dali railway－is expected to be completed in July this year, Wang said.

According to Wang, the designed operating speed of railways linking those three countries varies from 120 to 200 km/h.

 

[JSCh]

Sinomach railway in Iran
Source:Reuters-Global Times Published: 2018/3/21 22:28:40

China National Machinery Industry Corp, known as Sinomach, has signed a contract to build a 5.35 billion yuan ($845 million) railway in western Iran, adding to a wave of Chinese investment in the country.

Sinomach will handle the engineering, procurement and construction work for the 410-kilometer railway connecting the cities of Tehran, Hamedan and Sanandaj, the company said on its website on Monday.

China has pumped billions of dollars into projects in Iran since nuclear sanctions against the country were lifted in 2015, giving its companies an advantage over European companies struggling to find banks to fund their plans.

China has been particularly involved in rail projects in the country, reflecting its Belt and Road initiative that aims to improve global transport and trade connectivity.

State-owned China Railway Engineering Corp is building a 415-kilometer high-speed rail line between Tehran and Isfahan via Qom. Meanwhile, China Railway Construction in January said one of its units had won a contract to build a railway between Kermanshah and Khosravi.

 

[JSCh]

7 pct of construction of first section of Thailand-China high speed railway completed
Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-22 23:48:18|Editor: Liangyu

Photo taken on March 22, 2018 shows the construction site of Thailand-China High Speed Train project in Pak Chong, Thailand. Construction of the first section of Thailand-China High Speed Train project has been running smoothly, or 7 percent completed, Thanin Somboon, Director-General of Thailand's Department of Highways said on Thursday at the construction site here. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

PAK CHONG, Thailand, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the first section of Thailand-China High Speed Train project has been running smoothly, or 7 percent completed, Thanin Somboon, Director-General of Thailand's Department of Highways said on Thursday at the construction site here.

The clearing and grubbing of the first 3.5-kilometer section is finished in the main, contributing to a 7 percent completion of the section, said Thanin at a press tour to where the project began last December.

"The highway department is confident to finish the 3.5-kilometer section within four months, or before August, once we are fully funded," said the director-general.

So far, the cooperation between China and Thailand has been going well, which would be a referential experience for the construction of future sections, Thanin emphasized.

Thailand and China jointly inaugurated the construction of Thailand's first high-speed railway from Bangkok to northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, or the 253-km first phase of Thailand-China high speed railway last December.

Once completed, the railway with a maximum speed of 250 km per hour will be the first high-speed railway of Thailand.

 

[JSCh]

China driving Malaysia's rail ambitions
By Rian Maelzer
2018-03-27 21:54 GMT+8

To visit the sprawling Chinese plant assembling electric and light rail train sets in central Malaysia it seemed fitting to go by rail. I first hopped on one of the new lines of Kuala Lumpur’s light rail system a few stops to a main terminal, then walked to the adjacent platform to catch the electric train to Batu Gajah in Perak state.

The light rail train was assembled at the CRRC Rolling Stock Centre in Perak. The electric train was manufactured by its parent company in Zhuzhou, China.

A train for Malaysia's main north-south electric system. /CGTN Photo

The CRR plant here has also been assembling trains for greater Kuala Lumpur’s suburban rail system, as well as the electric train line I took.

“Malaysia has a solid railway network, but it is outdated, so there are big opportunities here,” the rolling stock center’s general manager Jiang Zhengguang told me. “Since we entered Malaysia in 2011, we have had a lot of orders, orders for nearly 1,000 train segments, and we have finished nearly 500 of them.”

An electric train set being assembled at the plant. /CGTN Photo

But China’s involvement in the rail sector doesn’t end at this plant. Far from it.

Chinese companies are working to double track and electrify the final 190-kilometer stretch of the country’s main north-south rail line to the border with Singapore.

Around 80 percent of the staff are local. /CGTN Photo

And China Communications Construction Company will take the lead in building a 13-billion-US-dollar East Coast Rail Link… stretching from the big ports on Malaysia’s west coast, through the capital to the underdeveloped east coast, and north to the Thai border. It will also be funded with soft loans from China.

Chinese state councilor Wang Yong joined Malaysia's prime minister to launch the East Coast Rail Link. /CGTN Photo

Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak has hailed the East Coast Rail Link or ECRL as a game changer. “It will be a catalyst for economic equality between the west coast and east coast as it will stimulate investments, spur commercial activities, create more jobs, facilitate quality education and boost tourism,” he said at last year’s launch.

CRRC Malaysia GM says the company looks to boost the local economy. /CGTN Photo

The ECRL project will train some 3,600 youths – especially from the less developed east coast states – in rail technology. The project will absorb most of those workers, but others should find jobs with the planned High Speed Rail project that will link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

A CRRC electric train. /CGTN Photo

Malaysia’s economy and youth have already seen the benefits of China’s rail investments here. Around 80 percent of the workers at CRRC’s plant are local people like Mohamed Al-Amin Zaini Yah. He had a diploma in mechanical engineering when he first joined CRRC about five years ago, and has since got a degree in Management in Technology.

Mohamed Al-Amin Zaini Yah (R) has been to China three times for training. /CGTN Photo

“The company sent me to China three times where I studied and acquired a lot of new skills, and developed my technical know-how. It has helped me expand my abilities and improve my income,” he says.

He adds that he’s proud to have been among the first batch of local workers to take part in a train building operation that Malaysia had never had before.

“Malaysia isn’t strong in railway equipment production,” says GM Jiang. “So entering Malaysia’s market, we bring new opportunities for Malaysia in this field. We will also help to cultivate local talents in manufacturing and management. We insist on localizing production and purchasing, boosting local suppliers and creating jobs.”

Some 500 train segments have been finished in the Perak plant. /CGTN Photo

The CRRC Corporation is looking at its Malaysia plant to serve more than just the local market. It wants to use the Perak plant as a base to assemble trains for the whole of ASEAN.

The plan is to assemble trains for the whole of Southeast Asia in the Malaysia plant. /CGTN Photo

In line with the Belt and Road Initiative, China is actively pursuing or undertaking a number of other rail projects in the region, including linking the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming in Yunnan Province to Laos capital Vientiane, on to the Thai border and to the capital Bangkok.

Trains for the new KL LRT extension are also built by the CRRC. /CGTN Photo

China has already solidly positioned at the heart of Malaysia’s ambitious rail expansion. But its rail companies will hope that their expertise and experience, coupled with their commitment to bring economic and social benefits, will help them land future high profile projects like the high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

 

[JSCh]

Feature: Chinese companies' construction work advances rapidly as China-Laos railway takes shape
Source: Xinhua | 2018-04-04 10:24:51 | Editor: huaxia

Photo taken on March 26, 2018 shows the cross-border Friendship Tunnel on China-Laos railway is under construction in Boten, Laos.

VIENTIANE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- After more than a year's construction, the China-Laos railway is taking shape in northern Laos bordering China.

"Now we have 2,401 staff and 603 sets of equipment at our construction sites," Zhou Xiaoxia, the superintendent of the China-Laos railway construction project's first section, told Xinhua on Monday by phone.

The superintendent from China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group (CREC 5) told Xinhua, up until the end of March, his unit had completed around 26 percent of the project section.

"For example, we have bored more than 14 km of tunnels which is 44 percent of the total and set up the lower portion of bridges which span more than 1,000 meters," said Zhou.

In 2018, Section One of the China-Laos railway project will see tunnels extended between 18 km and 20 km into the mountains and before Chinese New Year in February, 2019, the section will have bored through six tunnels, Huang Zongwen, a senior official with the China-Laos railway construction project told Xinhua during a tour to the construction sites.

He added that all the lower portions of the bridges, and the main roadbed work will be finished in 2018 and, before June this year, most of the culverts will be built.

The China-Laos railway construction project is divided into six sections. The CREC 5 is in charge of Section One in northern Laos, which borders China.

"There's a feeling of real enthusiasm towards this construction project and our team has been touched by the eagerness and expectations of the Lao people towards the railway," Hu Yong, a senior official of a CREC 5 said while showing Xinhua the tidy construction sites, factories and living zones.

"I am sure this year will see the construction work continue to boom and we can assure the timely and quality progress of the China-Laos railway."

In Hu Yong's team, Boten Tunnel is listed as one of the China-Laos railway's "important but difficult" projects.

Inside the Boten tunnel, engineering blasting, digging and cement lining were being carried out in an orderly fashion, and the in-and-outward bound heavy-duty trucks carried out earth and gravel continually, Xinhua reporters saw at the scene.

"We have almost bored half of the tunnel," Hu said proudly.

In the China-Laos border area, China Railway No.2 Group (CREC 2) is boring the Friendship Tunnel from each side.

"We have made a 300-meter entrance into the cross-border mountains, and will have half of the job completed on the Lao side at the end of this year," said Wang Xiaodong, a senior official of the CREC 2 unit, on Sunday.

The tunnel, with a total length of 9,595 meters, is divided into two parts, 7,170 meters on the Chinese side and 2,425 meters on the Lao side.

By March 26, the CREC 2 had bored 1,530.6 meters into the mountains from the Chinese side.

In December, 2017, Ban Somsanook No. 2 Tunnel with a length of 301 meters in Laos' Vientiane Province, was bored by the Chinese project contractor Sino Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co., Ltd., and became the first completed tunnel along the China-Laos railway route.

The China-Laos railway is being promoted by the leaders of the two countries as a project of interconnectivity. Since the commencement of construction in December 2016, the building of tunnels, bridges, roadbeds and other sections has progressed smoothly along the route.

The China-Laos railway has a total length of more than 414 kilometers comprising 60 percent of bridges and tunnels, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and the capital of Vientiane.

The operating speed of trains on the route is designed to be 160 km per hour. The railway is expected to be fully operational in December 2021.

 

[JSCh]

Railway upgrading project further boosts China-Malaysia ties: Malaysian PM
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-03 20:36:56|Editor: Jiaxin

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (3rd R) and Ning Jizhe (4th L), deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Gemas to Johor Bahru electric double-tracking railway project, in Segamat, Malaysia, April 3, 2018. A railway upgrading project undertaken by Chinese companies in southern Malaysia will further boost ties between the two countries, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said here Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

SEGAMAT, Malaysia, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A railway upgrading project undertaken by Chinese companies in southern Malaysia will further boost ties between the two countries, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said here Tuesday.

The Gemas to Johor Bahru electric double-tracking railway project, contracted to China Railway Construction Corporation, China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Communications Construction Company, will bring many benefits including enhancing bilateral ties between Malaysia and China, Najib said at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project.

"Our ties and economic relations will be further strengthened with the implementation of this project," he said.

The project would involve local contractors, providing opportunities and economic spillovers, said the prime minister.

Ning Jizhe, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, was also present at the ground-breaking ceremony. He said as an important part of infrastructure building and railway cooperation between China and Malaysia, the project will see heavy local involvement.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies will transfer the technology know-how to the locals, bringing a win-win situation to the two people and the two countries, he said.

Azli, a local staff at the Segamat train station, said locals had long been looking forward to a railway upgrade. Due to the capacity and speed limit of the old single track, few people travel by trains nowadays.

That would soon be changed. The Gemas to Johor Bahru electric double-tracking railway project, covers more than 190 kilometers, will upgrade the existing single-track to electric double-track.

Upon completion in 2020, it will complete a south-north double-tracking railway network running from Johor Bahru bordering Singapore in the South to Padang Besar in the north at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

 

[JSCh]

Argentina orders train carriages from China
by Chi Dehua Apr 24, 2018 10:11

Argentina's Ministry of Transport has penned a deal to purchase 200 more bullet trains from China's largest rolling stock maker, CRRC. official WeChat account of CRRC

Argentina's Transport Ministry has agreed to purchase another 200 train carriages from China in a bid to complete the renovation of an old train line on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

The deal, worth US$278m, was inked between the Argentine government and CRRC Corporation Limited, China's largest rolling stock manufacturer, on Monday, The Paper reports.

The new trains will be added to the Roca Line, which has already been equipped with 300 carriages ordered from CRRC in 2013. This was part of a larger shipment of 709 carriages distributed across three separate lines throughout the country.

The transporting capacity of the line is expected to increase by as much as 20 percent after the new carriages are shipped in mid-2019.

Home to over 10 million people, Buenos Aires is surrounded by more than 20 satellite cities. Trains are the major form of transport between the capital and its satellite cities.

 

[TaiShang]

China's driverless trains coming soon to Thailand

(People's Daily Online) 15:51, May 14, 2018

PBTS, a subsidiary of CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co. Ltd., a Chinese railway rolling stock manufacturer, recently got the contract to supply two monorail projects in Bangkok, Thailand.

This makes the company, Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems Co. Ltd., the first domestic firm to sell driverless straddle monorail trains to a foreign country.

PBTS was founded in 2014 as a joint venture between Canada's Bombardier Transportation and China Railway Rolling Stock Corp (CRRC).

It's the first company in China to specialize in the design, production, integration and sales of monorail and Automated People Mover (APM) rail transit vehicles and systems.

In March 2018, the first domestic APM driverless line using PBTS’s vehicles was opened for trial operation in Shanghai.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0514/c90000-9459871.html

 

[JSCh]

"Made in China" subway cars ready for Boston passengers by end of 2018
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-16 12:57:11|Editor: ZX

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (C) takes a ride on a new Orange Line train manufactured by China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) at Wellington Yard in Medford, a residential and industrial suburb of Boston, the United States, on May 15, 2018. New subway cars designed and manufactured by CRRC are undergoing tests and will be ready to take passengers in Boston by the end of 2018, said local officials on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

BOSTON, the United States, May 15 (Xinhua) -- New subway cars designed and manufactured by a Chinese company are undergoing tests and will be ready to take passengers in Boston by the end of 2018, said local officials on Tuesday.

A set of four cars made an appearance on the test track at Wellington Yard in Medford, a residential and industrial suburb of Boston, when Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker took a ride on the train while Stephanie Pollack, secretary of Massachusetts Transportation Department, introduced the new features of the vehicles.

The cars were the first four of 152 cars to serve the Orange Line in Boston. Each car needs about 500 hours of burn-in test before officially taking passengers on board, according to Pollack.

The secretary said once the cars are all delivered, passengers of the Orange Line will be able to have trains come every four and a half minutes during rush hour instead of every six or seven minutes currently, which will increase the number of commuters the line can carry in one hour by about 40 percent.

The new features of the vehicles include gap mitigation devices, additional passenger emergency intercoms, wider side door openings, automatic passenger counters and closed circuit cameras.

Baker said the train cars he toured signaled the first step in the delivery of all the new cars, which will gradually replace the nearly 40-year-old cars presently serving Boston lines.

These new cars are part of a contract between Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).

According to the contract, the CRRC will also design and manufacture 252 new cars for Boston Red Line subway. The vehicles for both lines are worth a billion U.S. dollars.

CRRC Vice President Jia Bo told Xinhua that most of the new cars will be assembled in the Chinese company's plant in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Construction of the plant, spreading over 204,000 square feet (about 18,952 square meters) and equipped with a 2,240-foot (683-meter) dynamic test track and a staging/storage area, was completed in April.

The factory has brought not only new cars, but also job opportunities to Boston.

"We currently employ 156 local workers in our factory. That's more than what we have promised," said Jia, who added that the factory will probably be hiring 260 local workers by the end of 2021.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese firm, Nigeria sign 6 bln USD rail project agreement
May 16, 2018

ABUJA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria on Tuesday signed an agreement of 6.68 billion U.S. dollars with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for a major segment of rail line linking the economic capital Lagos with Kano, northern Nigeria's commercial hub.

"The signing of the Ibadan-Kaduna segment contract agreement today (Tuesday) concludes all outstanding segments of the Lagos-Kano rail line," said a statement by Nigeria's transport ministry.

CCECC confirmed to Xinhua the signing of the agreement Tuesday.

The Lagos-Kano rail modernization project started in 2006 and was broken into segments for implementation.

The segmentation phase commenced from Abuja-Kaduna rail line in 2011, which was completed and commissioned into commercial operation by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.

In March 2017, the second leg of the rail project, which is currently ongoing, commenced.

Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, while signing the contract agreement with CCECC, said the completion time of the contract should be between two to three years, "depending on availability of funds."

Amaechi promised that the government would be able to provide its counterpart funding between 2018 and 2019 budget provision.

The Ibadan-Kaduna standard gauge line is designed to pass through the southwest region to the north, linking Osogbo-Ilorin-Minna to Kaduna, with a single track branch line from Osogbo to Ado-Ekiti, another southwestern city.

 

[TaiShang]

Singapore receives 91 Chinese-made MRT trains

(Xinhua) 15:54, May 26, 2018

SINGAPORE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday that it had received the first batch of 91 Chinese-made trains for the city-state's new mass rapid transit (MRT) line that will enter into public service for the first stage in 2019.

According to Straits Times, the trains, each with four cars, were made in China by a consortium formed by Chinese company CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. and Japanese firm Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The consortium won a contract worth 749 million Singapore dollars (about 558.6 million U.S. dollars) in 2014 to supply the trains.

The LTA said these fully-automated trains are the first in Singapore with five doors on the side of each car to facilitate smoother boarding and alighting of passengers. It said that the rest of the trains will be delivered progressively from now until 2022.

The new 43-km MRT line to run with these trains is Thomson-East Coast Line, which will have 31 stations. It is to connect commuters living in Singapore's eastern region to the city center, and will be fully operational in 2024.

@Mista

 

[JSCh]

China's BYD to build 2nd monorail in Philippines
Xinhua | Updated: 2018-05-31 11:10

Passengers wait to board a monorail train of SkyRail in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Sept 1, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua]

BALANGA CITY, the Philippines - China's electric vehicle maker BYD inked a deal on Wednesday with the local government of Bataan province to build a monorail transit system in this northern Philippine city northwest of Manila.

Liu Xueliang, general manager of BYD Asia Pacific Auto Sales Division, told Xinhua that the monorail will be built in Balanga city as soon as a feasibility study is completed.

Balanga city, about 120 kilometers northwest of Manila, is the capital city of Bataan province in Luzon Island.

According to BYD, the first phase of the monorail, circling Balanga city, is seven kilometers.

A statement issued at the signing of the BYD-Bataan-Balnga Multi-layered Electrified Transportation said the project is expected to ease the traffic congestions and optimize the transportation conditions in the city.

"Committed to achieving lower carbon and sustainable development, both the BYD and the provincial government of Bataan are working closely to introduce the first batch of 10 units of BYD electric buses for operations before Dec 31 this year," Balanga City Mayor Francis Garcia said.

"With the cooperation with BYD, the city will build a public transport system that will optimize the transportation conditions both in the Balanga city and the rest of Bataan province," Garcia said.

He expressed hope that the monorail transport system will not only address the traffic congestion but also build a green and environmentally friendly public transport system.

The monorail in Balanga city is the second monorail that BYD will build in the Philippines.

In August last year, the Chinese auto company also signed a memorandum of understanding with Iloilo city in the central Philippines for building the country's first monorail.

Now BYD is proceeding to the feasibility study of the 20-km monorail in Iloilo city which deals with the project cost and financing, among others.