SANTIAGO – The seven million inhabitants of the Chilean capital have a new underground metro line and the promise of another that will be added in the second half of 2018, all with an ecological approach.
“It is always an emotion to inaugurate something, but it is particularly important when it was decided in the previous government and it has to be inaugurated in the second period,” stated the president while inaugurating the new metro line yesterday.
“It is a pregnancy a little longer than nine months, but at least there is childbirth,” Bachelet said, smiling at the start-up ceremony of Line 6.
The 15km line features automatic trains and 10 stations and will benefit around 1.1 million inhabitants in the municipalities of: Cerrillos, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, San Miguel, San Joaquin, Ñuñoa, Santiago and Providencia in the city. As part of the wider benefit, metro stations have been built in Cerrillos and Pedro Aguirre Cerda for the first time.
Line 6 was made at a cost of more than $ 1billion USD in almost 10 years. It has 10 stations, fully automated trains (without driver), and a card reloading system also without ticketing.
Currently the transfer time from Los Leones to Cerrillos is 47 minutes, according to the Santiago Metro, but Line 6 will reduce that transit time to 19 minutes.
