The country’s four operational urban and commuter rail lines keep 74,781 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere each year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said. That’s about half the emissions the same passenger volume would have generated if commuters had taken private cars.
The agency said the reduction covers the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT 1), Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT 2) and the Philippine National Railways (PNR), using private car travel as the baseline.
Bigger cuts are expected once the government’s pipeline of rail projects comes online. The North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) is projected to trim CO2 emissions by more than 150,000 tons annually-over twice the combined savings of the four existing lines.
The Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT 7), set to open in the second quarter of 2027, is expected to deliver a net reduction of around 58 percent, or more than 60,000 tons, against over 105,000 tons of car-generated CO2 per year.
The Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP), for its part, is seen cutting emissions by as much as 63 percent, equivalent to more than 70,000 tons of CO2 yearly.
‘Ang bilin ng Pangulo, gawin nating sustainable ang ating transportasyon. Kaya tayo sa DOTr, isinusulong natin ang tinatawag na commuter-centric transport gaya ng mga tren kung saan mas marami ang nakakasakay,’ Transportation Secretary Banoy Lopez said. ‘Kung mas maraming sasakay sa tren kaysa private vehicles, malaki ‘yung mababawas sa carbon emission sa kalsada.’
The computations draw on National Rail UK’s Greener Travel data, which pegs car travel at 167 grams of CO2 per kilometer against 35 grams per passenger-kilometer for rail. Even at an average of two passengers per private vehicle, car travel emits roughly 83.5 grams of CO2 per passenger-kilometer-more than double that of rail.
A case study on Metro Manila by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Climate Change and Energy Project said private car emissions in the Philippines ‘significantly worsen urban air quality, accelerate climate change, and pose severe public health risks, particularly in congested metropolitan areas like Metro Manila.’
Citing a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), Lopez said the economy loses an estimated P3.5 billion a day to traffic, a figure that could climb to as much as P5.4 billion daily by 2035 absent government intervention.