Panama Metro

Panama Metro

Alstom Metropolis on Line 1 (2014)
Overview
Native name Metro de Panamá
Locale Panama City, Panama
Transit type Rapid transit (metro)
Number of lines 1 operating; 1 planned
Number of stations 13 (1 more to open in Q3 2015,[1]
1 more planned)[2]
Daily ridership 180,000 (March 2015)[3]
Website El Metro de Panamá
Operation
Began operation April 5, 2014
Operator(s) El Metro de Panamá
Character Partially underground, partially elevated
Number of vehicles 19 Alstom Metropolis
Train length 3-car trainsets
Technical
System length 13.7 km (8.5 mi) (current)[4]
15.8 km (9.8 mi) (final)[1]
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Panama Metro (Spanish: Metro de Panamá) is a metropolitan rapid transit system in Panama City, Panama,[5] which currently links Los Andes County with the city center. It was inaugurated on April 5, 2014.[6]

It was built to relieve the traffic congestion between the city and San Miguelito District, and to offer commuters a viable alternative to road transport, as the Metrobus transport system is suffering multiple issues.

The Panama Metro is part of a major “National Master Plan” to improve transportation in Panama City and the west side of the country, which includes the construction of two more metro lines and a light rail line. It currently consists of one 13.7-kilometer (8.5 mi) line,[4] serving 13 stations, with one more station set to open in the third quarter of 2015,[1] and a fifteenth station planned.[2]

Project

Line 1 development

The Government of Panama invited tenders for a contract to build the metro system.[7] The governments of Brazil[8] and Taiwan[9] offered to invest on the project. After an exhaustive inspection of all proposals for the construction of the railway system, the Línea Uno consortium, which includes the Spanish Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), won the contract.[10]

In October 2009, the POYRY/Cal y Mayor y Asociados consortium won the contract for the counseling of the project development,[11] and on January 2010, Systra was awarded a contract to create detailed infrastructure designs.

The first phase of the project consisted of planning, cost estimation, and technical feasibility, while the second phase consisted of several soil studies, topography, and demand refinings. Both phases were started and executed simultaneously at late 2009. In December 2010, the government finally awarded the tender for the construction of the subway. The third and fourth phases of the project took place between 2011 and 2012, and consisted of the construction of all the viaducts and stations and relocation of the public utilities. The control center that supervises the whole metro operations and the Automatic Train Supervision were provided by Thales, along with the network infrastructure and communication and security solutions including CCTV, telephony, intercom, TETRA radio, visual and audio information to passengers, and fire detection.

By September 2013, construction of Line 1 was 92% complete, allowing a test run with some of the rolling stock.[12]

Line 2 development

On May 16, 2014, three different consortiums offered several proposals for planning, cost estimation and technical feasibility for the construction of a Line 2 of the Metro system.[13] After making a detailed inquiry of all the proposals, the Metro de Panama secretary announced on July 12, 2014, that the PML2 consortium – which includes the Spanish "Ayesa Ingeniería y Arquitectura", "Barcelona Metro", and the "Louis Berger Group" company from the United States – had been awarded the contract. [14][15]

Cost

The construction of Line 1 cost $1.452 billion. The Metro of Panama authority, in charge of the planning, construction, and execution of the project, has a budget of $200 million for the year 2012. In December 2011, the Secretaría del Metro de Panamá clarified that the updated cost of the project is US$1.880 billion, including public utilities relocations and engineering and project management costs.[16]

The Line 2 project will have a cost of $2.200 billion. [17]

Operations

Line 1

People travelling in one of the trainsets.

The Panama Metro's Line 1 was planned to run over a mostly north-south route, from Los Andes to the Albrook bus station (where the system's maintenance shop is located), and extends over 13.7 kilometers (8.5 mi) of route, including 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) underground and 6.3 kilometers (3.9 mi) in viaduct.[7] It has 13 passenger stations: 5 elevated, 7 underground, and 1 at-grade. The stations have a platform length of approximately 110 meters (360 ft).[4]

On 5 April 2014, the subway's First Line was inaugurated in record time and the first public passenger trip on the new system was carried out the same day. The next day, the Metro subway system entered into active passenger revenue service, and transported more than a million passengers in the first week of operation.

A complete journey of Line 1 lasts about 25 minutes.

It begins its current route at the elevated San Isidro station, north of the city, continuing on viaduct via the original terminus of Los Andes, Pan de Azucar station, San Miguelito station, Pueblo Nuevo (close to the Estrella Azul factory) to reach 12 de Octubre (the final elevated station), where it enters a trench, towards the underground section of Line 1. It continues its journey through the underground stations of El Ingenio, Fernandez de Cordoba, Vía Argentina, Iglesia del Carmen, Santo Tomás, Lotería, and 5 de Mayo. Finally it reaches the terminus station, Albrook Bus Terminal, at the airport, which is the system's only at-grade station.

The original northern terminus station of the metro was Los Andes.[4] However, it was a temporary terminus station, since the government approved an extension of Line 1 to a final elevated station in San Isidro.[18] San Isidro was originally scheduled to open in August 2014, but finally opened on 15 August 2015.[1][19] the extension to San Isidro will added 2.1 kilometers (1.3 mi) of route to the system, extending the metro's total route length to 15.8 kilometers (9.8 mi).[1]

The El Ingenio subway station, located between the underground Fernández de Córdoba station and the first elevated station, 12 de Octubre, was originally scheduled to open in August 2014,[4] but, opened on 8 May 2015.[1]

There are also plans to develop an underground station in Curundú, between the underground 5 de Mayo station and the at-grade Albrook station, serving future city government facilities to be built at that location. It is expected to be constructed some time after the Metro has been opened.[4]

Rolling stock

Alstom has delivered 19 three-car Metropolis trainsets for the Panamá Metro.[20] The trains were built at Alstom’s Santa Perpètua de Mogoda factory in Spain and underwent preliminary testing on the FGC network in Barcelona.

The first three trains were shipped from Spain and arrived May 25, 2013. The standard gauge units have air-conditioning, CCTV, and passenger information, and can accommodate 600 passengers per trainset.[21] The trains initially consist of three-car sets, but all stations are being built to accommodate five-car trainsets in anticipation of expected future ridership demands.

Unlike many rapid transportation systems, the Panama Metro does not have a third rail. Instead, the trains collect their power from an overhead line system.

Future operations

Line 2

Line 2 is planned to run over a mostly east-south route, from 24 de Diciembre district to Punta Pacifica. Due to its length, this line cost about twice as much as the construction and completion of Line 1. To ease the economic burden it would place on the national budget, it was decided in April 2014 that Line 2 would be built into two phases.

The first phase will run from 24 de Diciembre district to San Miguelito district, intersecting with the first line. It extends over 23 kilometers (14 mi) of route, and it will include up to 16 elevated stations and a branch line to Tocumen International Airport. The second phase will then complete this line from San Miguelito to Punta Pacifica located in the south part of Panama City. [22]

It is expected that the first phase of construction of Line 2 will take around four years. [23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Hoy Abre Sus Puertas La Estación Loteria Del Metro" [Metro Loteria Station Opens Today] (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. August 27, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
  2. 1 2 "Línea 1 Conoce los accesos a sus estaciones" [Line 1 Explore access to stations] (pdf) (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  3. ↑ "Metro cambia patrones de consumo en Panamá" [Metro changing consumption patterns in Panama]. Capital Financiero (in Spanish). March 23, 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Conoce la Línea 1 del Metro de Panamá" [Meet Line 1 of the Panama Metro] (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  5. ↑ "Línea Uno consortium to build Panamá Metro". Railway Gazette International. October 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  6. ↑ "Panamá City metro opens". Railway Gazette International. April 7, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
  7. 1 2 "Panamá metro project launched". Railway Gazette International. January 18, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  8. ↑ "Brazil offers credit to build the Panama Metro". August 19, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  9. ↑ "Taiwan willing to advise Martinelli in subway construction in Panama". June 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  10. ↑ "Spain's FCC group wins massive Panama metro contract". October 30, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  11. ↑ "Panama Metro design will be carried by Mexican-Swiss consortium". Panamagazine. October 19, 2009. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
  12. ↑ Briginshaw, David (September 27, 2013). "Panama’s first metro line nears completion". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
  13. ↑ "Tres firmas aspiran a gerenciar la Línea dos del Metro de Panamá". La Prensa. May 16, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  14. ↑ "Adjudican gerencia de la Línea 2 del Metro a consorcio hispano-estadounidense". La Prensa. July 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  15. ↑ "Gerencia de Linea 2, a cargo de PML2". Panamá América. July 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  16. ↑ "Costo del Proyecto del Metro se Mantiene" [Cost of Metro Project still the same] (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. December 5, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  17. ↑ "Costo del Metro costará 2 mil millones" (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. July 2, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  18. ↑ "Red Maestra del Metro de Panamá" [Network Master of the Panama Metro] (jpg) (in Spanish). Metro de Panamá. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  19. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/elmetrodepanama/photos/a.113631972000500.10854.113556335341397/995470103816678/?type=3&theater
  20. ↑ "First Panamá metro trains delivered". Railway Gazette. May 17, 2013. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  21. ↑ "La acción a punto de empezar: trenes y funcionamiento". La Prensa. April 5, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  22. ↑ "Adjudican gerencia de la Línea 2 del Metro a consorcio hispano-estadounidense". La Prensa. July 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  23. ↑ "Construcción de la Línea 2 del Metro, podría tomar 4 años". Telemetro. July 3, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-27.

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Coordinates: 8°59′N 79°31′W / 8.983°N 79.517°W / 8.983; -79.517

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