PANAMA: The HPH joint venture which is prime contractor for the Panamá City metro Line 3 monorail has signed a US$883m contract for Hitachi Ltd, Hitachi Rail STS and Mitsubishi Corp to supply rolling stock and railway systems.
Hitachi and Hitachi Rail will provide 28 six-car trainsets, signalling, telecoms, power systems, the control centre, platform screen doors and depot equipment. Hitachi will also supply its B-CHOP energy storage system which will be used to recover and reuse regenerated power. Mitsubishi Corp will manage the project.
Metro de Panamá awarded the HPH joint venture of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, POSCO and Hyundai Engineering Co the US$2·5bn contract to build Line 3 in February. PHP beat rival bids from China Railway Group, a consortium of Acciona Construcción and China Power, and a consortium of FCC, CICSA and SKEC.
The 26·7 km elevated double-track route with 14 stations is scheduled to open in mid-2025, running from Albrook on metro Line 1 to Ciudad del Futuro, including a crossing of the Panama Canal.
