The 12.7 km (7.9 mi), 10-station elevated railway would connect Ortigas Center in Metro Manila and the suburban municipality of Taytay, Rizal.

[18] The plan would have been an 18.35 km (11.40 mi) partly elevated light rail line that would run from Welcome Rotonda to Quirino Highway, entirely in Quezon City.

[19] A year later, a French consortium led by Javlon International and Bouygues, as well as local firm Ayala Land, submitted the proposal to the government for the proposed elevated railway that would run from the Old Bilibid Prison in Santa Cruz, Manila to Batasan in Quezon City, totaling 15.1 km (9.4 mi), while the depot was to be located in the vicinity of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City, as well as the planned extension to Novaliches.

[20][22][23] According to the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study, the rolling stock was supposed to have 5-car light rail vehicles.

This is the primary motivation to build a rail line in the vicinity to improve journey times between the two areas.

[5] In 2017, businessman Salvador Zamora II offered a proposal with a Swiss challenge, and he said in a recent interview that he had initial talks with the Department of Transportation.

[30] Meanwhile, on March 30, 2023, the contract for the consultancy services for the operations and maintenance of the line was signed by DOTr and Australia-based Ricardo Rail.

[31] On October 12, 2022, the Department of Transportation confirmed that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will extend a loan of US$1 billion for the project.

The DOTr will coordinate closely with other agencies like the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to address the expected heavy traffic that the construction will bring.

[1] In May 2024, the House of Representatives briefing presentation on Metro Manila development has been addressing right-of-way issues for the project, including public utilities.

The line is a component of the Manila East Rail Transit Project proposed by the Japanese government in February 2015 which aims to provide a medium-capacity rail transport system connecting central and eastern Metro Manila with the province of Rizal.

[14] Its proposed alignment is along Ortigas Avenue with an option to extend the line to as far east as the Rizal municipality of Angono on the Manila East Road, and west to either of the following terminals: Option 2 was the chosen alignment of the study owing to its capability to serve the most demand that can alleviate traffic the most on the Taytay-Cainta-Pasig-Mandaluyong-Manila corridor.

During a Build Better More forum, DOTr Undersecretary Timothy Batan said a feasibility study will be conducted in mid-2025 to determine the project cost, passenger capacity, and other details.

[42] The line will be a generally elevated mass rapid transit (MRT) railway with two tracks.

In addition to this, studies conducted by IDOM also determined that the ridership demand along the San Juan-Rizal corridor was higher than expected.

The narrow width stations are 17 meters (56 ft) wide and instead of having its own ground level entries, it will utilize neighboring commercial structures to access the concourse.

The Project Description for Scoping (PDS) report recommends the construction of the depot at the former Excelsior Villas site in Taytay, Rizal.