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This week, three months after what was originally planned, the works start-up certificate will be signed for the most anticipated infrastructure project in recent decades by Bogota citizens: the first metro line.
The entire route will be on a viaduct along of which there will be 16 stations, 12 of them with access buildings on the sides and not on the railway line, and will have commercial premises and services. Of the total, a dozen will be integrated into the TransMilenio system.
But maybe one of the most key infrastructures of the Bogotá metro will be its trains, which represent approximately 35 percent of the project and about which little has been said. According to the Chinese consortium Metro Line 1 SAS (ML1), in principle there will be 30 – they will be dispatched every 3 minutes -, which will operate with the UTO or automatic driving system – they do not need a driver – which “is the most advanced of the world today ”.
These can develop a maximum speed of 80 km / h; however, counting the stops at the stations, the average speed is estimated at 43 km / h. That means that you can go, more or less, in half an hour from Bosa to Los Héroes. A transmilenio takes approximately 75 minutes to complete the same route and a car takes 90 minutes.
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This type of train is only available in the region by one of the Chilean lines and outside it, by the main cities in North America, Europe and Asia. The fleet will be able to mobilize 1,050,000 passengers per day and grow to a maximum of 60 modules if at any time it is necessary.
The mega work It will have a length of 23.9 kilometers and an estimated cost of 12.9 billion pesos (at 2017 prices), of which 70 percent will be paid by the Nation and the remaining 30 percent by the District.
The contract for the construction and operation of the first line was awarded on November 27, 2019 to the Chinese company – integrated by the companies China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd. (Chec) and China Communications Construction Company Ltd. (CCCC) -, a fact considered historic because after 70 years of failed attempts, the city took a definite step towards making that dream come true.
Of course, the announcement of the contractor’s name was made in the Nariño Palace, with President Iván Duque, then Mayor Enrique Peñalosa and the manager of the Metro Company, Andrés Escobar – who was ratified in office by Mayor Claudia López -, leading the act.
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In accordance with the mandatory specifications, designed in 2018 by the French company Systra, an expert in railway solutions, and which served as the basis for all the firms that submitted to the international tender (see opinion column), The trains will operate with electrical energy, which will be supplied through a third rail and not through overhead cables. The minimum capacity of each one will be 1,800 passengers (10 times more than a TransMilenio bi-articulated).
These trains will operate with state-of-the-art systems that guarantee minimal noise pollution, they will be equipped with ventilation systems and real-time communication between passengers and the Operational Control Center –which will be located in the workshop yard, in Bosa–. Equally, They will have adequate spaces for people with physical disabilities.
The manufacture of modern modules, which will have between 6 and 7 wagons eachIt will be in China, simultaneously with the viaduct works in Bogotá. The idea, according to the manager of the Metro Company, is that they begin to be tested between 2025 and 2027.
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In the work schedule it is established that they will have four testing phases. A first in China, before they are shipped to the port of Buenaventura, and will be in charge of the audit –on August 18, it was awarded to a consortium of companies from Italy, Mexico, Spain and Colombia–. The second and third will be in Bogotá. In these, the trains must be operated in sections in a straight line and in curves.
And before entering into commercial operation, expected between 2027 and 2028, there will be a phase of service without charge, in order to do pedagogy and generate the culture of the metro.
As stated recently by the ML1 consortium in an interview with this newspaper, the first metro line will reach its maximum capacity with 46,300 passengers at peak hours and among its main feeders will be the TransMilenio trunks of avenue 68, the City of Cali and the green corridor of Carrera 7.ª, which was originally considered as a trunk.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRÍGUEZ
Bogota Editor
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