COLOMBIA: An agreement was signed in late June for the handover of the alignment of the Bogotá – Facatativá railway from the Ministry of Transportation to the Cundinamarca province that borders Bogotá. This allowed track reconstruction and upgrading works to start later that month as part of the Regiotram de Occidente project.
Meanwhile, on July 16, Jorge Rey, Governor of the Cundinamarca, unveiled a shortened mockup of the first of 16 five-car tram-train vehicles CRRC Changchun is supplying to operate the service.
Alignment
This 39·6 km tram-train line is to link the TransMilenio BRT and future metro station at Av Caracas & Calle 26 in Bogotá with Funza, Mosquera, Madrid, and Facatativá in the Sabana Occidente region, serving 17 stations.
The handover ceremony was attended by Minister of Transport Maria Rojas and Rey, among other dignities. The corridor will be managed, maintained and the service operated by the local authority-owned Empresa Férrea Regional for the next 35 years. The national government remains the owner of the infrastructure assets.
In 2020, China Civil Engineering Construction Corp was awarded a PPP concession contract to deliver the Regiotram de Occidente project.
‘Today we take a historic step toward a new mobility system for Cundinamarca. We are contributing to the recovery of the railway infrastructure and transforming it into a dignified, efficient, and sustainable transportation system. The Regiotram is the symbol of a country moving on rails again’, Rojas said.
Regiotram de Occidente will mostly use the alignment of a moribund 914 mm gauge main line. The route is to be electrified at 1·5 kV DC, double-tracked, and regauged to 1 435 mm, and modern signalling is to be deployed.
Platforms will be rebuilt, bridges replaced, and the drainage system repaired. A total of 77 km of tracks from the current single-track alignment will be dismantled and 178 km of new track installed. No less than 42 500 sleepers, mostly wooden, will be replaced by 141 000 concrete equivalents, and 89 switches and turnouts will be installed.
Coupled vehicles
The tram-train vehicles will each be five-car and 52·2 m long. They are to run coupled, taking one formation to 105 m long and capable of carrying 964 passengers, 200 of whom will be seated.
The vehicles will feature passenger information screens, air conditioning and large windows and LED lighting. They are to have four spaces for people with reduced mobility, four for their companions, and another four spaces for bicycles.
The vehicles are to have a 390 mm high entrance and six doors on one side, each 1·3 m wide. They will to be capable of a maximum speed of 70 km/h, but they will be limited to 50 km/h in revenue service. Their lifespan is estimated to be 30 years.
Opening in 2027
Some early civil works began back in June 2022, and Cundinamarca officials report a 30% overall project completion. One depot has been completed while another is reported to be at 31% completion. One 800 kV electrical substation has been built, and a 500 kV substation refurbished.
Revenue services are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027 between Facatativá and the Fontibón area, while the Fontibón – Bogotá section is planned to open in 2029.
Regiotram de Occidente is expected to be used by 140 000 passengers a day.
