COLOMBIA: The first of 30 six-car fully automated trainsets for Bogotá metro Line 1 is on test at CRRC Changchun’s plant in China.
Being built under a 2020 October contract, the trainset is 134·3 m long and 2 900 mm wide. It is equipped with CBTC onboard equipment as well as internal and external CCTV cameras and passenger information systems.
The trainset has a capacity of 1 800 passengers, 252 of which can be seated, with 36 priority seats and two spaces for wheelchair users.
According to Metro de Bogotá, the capacity of one metro trainset is equivalent to 12 articulated or seven twin-articulated buses operating on the city’s TransMilenio bus rapid transit routes which have been developed as a priority ahead of construction of a metro.
The first Line 1 trainset is scheduled to arrive in the Colombian capital in September.
First metro line
The 23·8 km Line 1 running north-south from Carrera 94 to Calle 72 is expected to open in 2028.
It is being built by the APCA Transmimetro consortium of China Harbour Engineering Co (85%) and operating partner Xi’an Metro Co (15%) under a build (eight years) and operate (20 years) concession agreement with Metro de Bogotá.
Line 1 is expected to carry 43 000 passengers/direction/h, with trains initially running at 2 min 20 sec headways in the peaks. The average commercial speed is expected to be 42·5 km/h.
- Go deeper: Read more about Bogotá’s shift to rail in the January 2025 issue of Railway Gazette International.
