CHILE: The first NS16 trainset entered revenue service on Santiago metro lines 2 and 5 on September 13.
In March 2011 Metro de Santiago awarded Alstom a €220m contract to refurbish the 35 seven-car NS74 trainsets, but this proved too difficult owing to large quantities of asbestos. The replacement contract for 35 new seven-car rubber-tyred trainsets is worth €270m.
The trains are 121·8 m long and 2 600 mm wide with capacity for 1 340 passengers. They draw power from a 750 V DC third-rail supply.
Stainless steel bodyshells for the first 11 sets are coming from Alstom’s Lapa plant in Brazil. Production will then be transferred to the Taubaté plant in the same country.
Metro de Santiago expects to introduce one NS16 train per month, with all of them in revenue service by the end of May 2021.
