EFE issues US$200mn tender to build underground section of Alameda-Melipilla train

Press release from EFE 

This is a machine translation of the original release, issued in Spanish

EFE Trenes de Chile is making progress on the construction of the Alameda – Melipilla Train with the publication of the tender for the construction of the underground works on the section between the Lo Errázuriz stations in the Cerrillos commune and Estación Central. The contract amount is estimated at US$ 200 million, which is added to the upcoming award of the Melipilla-Malloco and Malloco-Lo Errázuriz sections , both for an estimated amount of approximately US$ 785 million. In addition, the 22 electric trains for the service are already under construction and the new signaling and communications systems are in the tender stage.

“This is a historic moment. The train to Melipilla is the largest project in the recent history of EFE and, together with the Batuco-Quinta Normal train, our most ambitious project to expand and improve the conditions of public transport in the Metropolitan Region. Very good news for millions of people who live in the eight communes of the future route,” said Eric Martin, president of EFE Trenes de Chile.

This new contract includes the construction of underground platforms at a depth of 30 metres, which will form part of the Alameda station, under the current Central Station, and two passenger tracks that will run through a 3.2-kilometre tunnel that will lead to a new station to be located in the Bonilla population sector, the name of which is still being defined.

The “Melitrén” project involves an investment of more than 1.9 billion dollars to enable a comfortable, safe and reliable passenger transport service for eight municipalities in the Metropolitan Region: Estación Central, Cerrillos, Maipú, Padre Hurtado, Peñaflor, Talagante, El Monte and Melipilla.

The initiative will allow savings of up to more than 2 hours of travel time per day, and includes 11 stations on a 61-kilometer long route, with three lines to Malloco (two for passengers and one for freight) and two to Melipilla (one for passengers and one for freight), with connections to Metro lines 1 and 6.

It is estimated that the new route will have an approximate demand of 57 million passengers per year, for an area of influence of more than 1 million 100 thousand inhabitants.