CHILE: A ceremony attended by President Gabriel Boric was held on November 12 marking the formal start of reconstruction of the 61 km Santiago – Melipilla railway. The line is to be rebuilt to support intensive suburban rail operations, as well as longer distance traffic.
On November 27, national railway EFE awarded Siemens Mobility a contract to supply ETCS Level 2 signalling for the Melipilla route, and also for the 26 km Santiago – Batuco suburban rail project.
Siemens is to produce, supply, install, and commission its Distributed Smart Safe System platform as part of its hardware-independent Signaling X cloud-based train control architetcture. It will supply SIL4-compliant interlockings, wayside equipment, traffic management tools and onboard units for 32 electric multiple-units.
The equipment will operate in conjunction with 4G-LTE telecommunication technology with provision for future 5G roll-out. The contract has a term of five years and includes 10 years of maintenance.
Opening from 2027
The Santiago – Melipilla suburban rail line is scheduled to open in phases, starting with the Santiago Lo Errázuriz – Talagante section in the last quarter of 2027.
At the southern end of the route, services will use an underground station complex beneath the Central-Alameda hub in the centre of Santiago. At Lo Errázuriz, interchange will be provided with Santiago metro Line 6.
- On November 12, EFE completed the replacement of the 1·9 km bridge over the Biobío River on Line 2 of the Biotrén suburban rail network that serves the area around Concepción. A life-expired single-track iron structure dating back more than a century has been replaced with a double-track concrete structure at a cost of US$267m.
- Dig deeper: Read our feature article about the Chilean government’s ambitious passenger rail revival programme in the August 2023 issue of Railway Gazette International.
