Santiago Metro celebrates tunnel breakthrough on line linking rural areas

A tunnel breakthrough in western Santiago has moved the Line 6 expansion closer to a planned connection with rural areas outside the Chilean capital. The project is expected to benefit about 90,000 people and extend the line’s total length to 19 kilometers.

The new section will connect the existing Cerrillos station with a future terminal at Lo Errazuriz. A trip across the line is expected to take about 27 minutes, compared with between 40 minutes and one hour by ground public transport today.

Construction on the three-kilometer tunnel section has reached 55 percent. The Lo Errazuriz station is expected to enter service by the end of next year, although civil works and systems installation still have to begin.

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allow the opportunities offered by the city to reach more families, thereby reducing travel times and creating more opportunities

The expansion also includes a further one-kilometer extension at the eastern end, reaching a station in Las Condes. That station is intended to connect with the future Line 7, while Lo Errazuriz will eventually link with the State Railways company’s train to Melipilla, a project currently under construction.

Public Works and Transport Minister Louis de Grange said the works would bring the city’s opportunities closer to more families by reducing travel times. Metro Santiago president Patricio Rey Sommer said the company wanted people to live in a more connected city. The project has an estimated investment of $244 million.

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What we seek as a company is precisely to bring people closer to living in a more connected city, to living in a better city, and therefore we are very satisfied with the progress of these works.