Japan on Friday announced it is pouring a massive $2.4 billion into a new railway in the Philippines aimed at easing Manila's notorious gridlock. Japan, the Philippines' top trading partner and source of aid, said the 38-kilometre (24-mile) elevated commuter line would connect Manila to nearby Bulacan province to decongest the capital and help spur economic activity. "This is one of the biggest projects Japan has ever embarked upon using the yen loan," Masato Ohtaka, deputy press secretary for Japan's foreign ministry, told reporters in Manila.
