The Department of Transportation has been coordinating with the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the creation of a Railway Institute.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, in a press briefing in Malacanang on Tuesday, said this is simultaneous with the construction of a subway in Metro Manila and other railway projects.

"I am now talking with JICA where we are discussing the curriculum, where to put (the Railway Institute), (but) more or less we already knew where to place it," he said.

He said the Railway Institute would be the place where operators and other workers in the country's railway systems, including subways, would study and would be training on how to maintain these systems.

Tugade said he wants the management of the country's railways systems to be similar to Tokyo.

He added he wants to avoid the usual problems being encountered now by the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 and the Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2.

"The education, training and learning to really operate a railway system was not institutionalized. Here, we will institutionalize," he said.

The Philippines is eyeing official development assistance from Japan for the construction of the first subway in the country.

The DOTr has also lined up other railway projects to be implemented in Metro Manila going to Clark, Pampanga and in Subic, Zambales, and to Laguna; and in Mindanao. Celerina Monte/DMS