Chinese carmaker to build monorail in Philippines

SHENZHEN - China's leading new-energy carmaker BYD announced Tuesday that it will build a monorail transit system in the Philippines.

The Shenzhen-based company said the 20-km monorail would be put into operation in the city of Iloilo by 2019.

BYD designed the system, named Yungui (meaning Cloud Rail), and is capable of making the trains, laying the rail, constructing stations and setting up the communication system on its own, the company said.

The cost and other details of the project were not revealed.

BYD said its trains were designed to run at maximum 80 km per hour. The system will cost much less than a conventional metro system.

Last October, BYD's first monorail debuted in Shenzhen and many other smaller Chinese cities have ordered it since, the company said.

Liu Xueliang, BYD's sales manager for the Asia-Pacific region, said the company was also in talks with the Iloilo government to introduce new energy buses and cooperate with local universities to train transport professionals.