Set to enter service by 2028, it will be PNR's first trainset to be run on standard gauge and powered by electric traction.

The company first built twenty JMC class DMUs alongside Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for its short-range services in 1955 as part of Manila Railroad's efforts towards dieselization.

[5] A second batch of 24 CMC class railcars were ordered for the expanded Metro Manila Commuter Service to Angeles City.

[6] By the mid and late 1980s, long-haul commuter services such as those leading to Pampanga were cut due to a lack of funding, political instability, and a government debt crisis.

[citation needed] Numerous plans to electrify the PNR network have been made since 1978,[8] most notably the discontinued Northrail project which would have used the European 25 kV AC railway electrification standard.

It is an acronym for Standard Urban Railway System for Asia and are Japanese-built trains exported for use by other Asian countries.

[1] Meanwhile, the newly-formed Japan Transport Engineering Company introduced the Sustina [ja] platform at InnoTrans 2012.

This was shortly after Tokyu Car was reorganized and renamed as a result of its acquisition by the East Japan Railway Company.

Its main distinction from other commuter train families is that the trainsets are constructed with lightweight stainless steel manufacturing technology patented by J-TREC.

[12] The Department of Transportation (DOTr) opened a bidding in July 2018 for the purchase of 104 electric railcars, equivalent to thirteen 8-car trainsets for Phase 1 (Tutuban–Malolos segment) of the NSCR.

[17] The first train arrived at the Port of Manila on November 21, 2021,[20] two weeks ahead of the schedule set by the DOTr.

At its base form, it is roughly twice the length of the 4-car trainset of the LRT2's LRTA 2000 class, its nearest counterpart in Metro Manila.

[18] The trains will use 1,500 V DC power through overhead lines, making the electrification system standards the same as Japan, and the same as the Metro Manila Subway.

While the main source of traction are variable-voltage/variable-frequency drive (VVVF) inverters driving the AC motors, batteries and auxiliary power consisting of static inverters will also be used to power the train's lighting and controls as well as allowances for moving slowly (at c. 30 km/h (19 mph)) in case of an emergency before coming to a complete stop.

[2] The trains will feature LCD screens above the doors which displays the NSCR line map and the car number.