subway, light rail in planning stages

The Chilean capital of Santiago is served by a rubber tired metronetwork. In 1996, the three-line metro carried a total of 178 million passengers,a high figure for a city with a population of five million. The first lineopened in 1975, followed by the first section of Line 2 in 1978. The network now covers 103 km serving 100 stations with five lines.

Line 2 fromRecoleta-Independencia is sometimes referred to as a light rail line, or tren ligero, but more resembles a full metro.  A light rail line from Cistern to the Seat of Maipúwas announced in May, 2001. Two other light rail lines are also planned from the Line 2 terminus at Cerro Blanco.

By 2015, extensions of Lines1, 2 and 5 are planned. Three new lines (3, 4 and 6) are also planned, with construction of the automated lines 3 and 6 to begin in 2012. A cross-city Metrotren suburban corridor on existing main line tracks is alos planned.

In January 2010, an announcement was made that a new 14.6 km Line 6 would soon enter the preconstruction phase. Line 6 is expected to open in 2014, just about the time this web page will be updated again.

Also in the early planning stages is a 13 station, 12 km light rail line in the Santiago suburb of Las Condes. The tranvia will connect with metro station of Line 6 and is due to be operational in 2012. A 15.7 km TranSantiago light rail line is also in the planning stages.

An event of note was in 2007, when commuters filed a class action suit against the metro because they were unable to get to work. This event alone dispells the myth of Chile being a third world country?

Photos from the Santiago Metro 1996 annual report

Click on the image for a larger image. Duh!

A new page on the Santiago Metro
Another page on the Santiago Metro, in Portuguese
Photo of new articulated metro tren
A fact filled, image filled page from Railway Technology
Official Home Page
Unofficial home page from Eduardo Guzmán
Chilitrennes
Wikipedia page

Image from Alsthom's site