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Valparaíso Metro

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Valparaíso Metro
Train to Limache entering Recreo
Train to Limache entering Recreo
Overview
Native nameMetro Valparaíso
LocaleGran Valparaíso, Chile
Transit typeCommuter rail
Number of lines1[1]
Number of stations20[1]
Annual ridership20.2 million (2019)[2]
Operation
Began operationNovember 23, 2005 (2005-11-23)
Operator(s)Metro Valparaíso
CharacterMostly at-grade, with an underground section
Headway6–12 minutes
Technical
System length43 km (27 mi)[1]
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Electrification3 kV DC from overhead catenary

The Limache-Puerto train service (Previously known as the Valparaíso Metro (Spanish: Metro Valparaíso), and coloquially known as "Merval") is the commuter rail system serving the urban conglomeration of Gran Valparaíso, Chile. It consists of one line, 43 kilometres (27 mi) long, serving 20 stations,[1] connecting the cities of Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana, and Limache[1] (outside the Valparaíso conurbation).

It is administered by EFE Valparaíso S.A., a subsidiary of the Chilean state-owned train company Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado. The Limache-Puerto service began with the conversion of an interurban service on the Santiago–Valparaíso railway line into more rapid transit-like service in 2005[3] – the renovated line was inaugurated on November 23, 2005 and began service the following day. The Limache-Puerto service carried 20.17 million passengers in 2019.[2]

Together with the much larger Santiago Metro, it is one of the only two underground urban rail systems in Chile (the Limache-Puerto service has a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) underground stretch from Miramar through Chorrillos stations in Viña del Mar). However, it is not a full metro system due to the existence of various level crossings and the long distances between stations.[4] As a result of the presence of at-grade level crossings and regional rail character, the Limache-Puerto service is more analogous to a commuter rail system.

Studies are being done to assess the feasibility of extending the line farther inland along the Valparaíso-Santiago Railway to serve the towns of Quillota, La Cruz, and La Calera which are currently being served by intercity buses (Bus Metro services) that feed into Limache Station.[5][6][7] In addition, passenger and freight service between Valparaíso and Santiago is proposed to use the line.[8]

History

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Valparaíso had an interurban passenger train system since the 19th century. In 1999 construction began on the current system, rebuilding the old interurban stations and building new ones with a homologous design. In Viña del Mar, a tunnel over 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) long was constructed. New trains arrived in Chile on February 22, 2005 and the old system was decommissioned on June 30 that year, in favour of the new Limache-Puerto service service.

On May 29, 2019, basic engineering studies were awarded to the CDI and Consultrans consortia, with a deadline of 3 years for execution to extend the Valparaiso Metro towards La Calera.[9] In parallel, the project is already being submitted for environmental impact studies, aiming to start construction in 2023 and ultimately begin operations in 2027. Its future stations will be San Pedro, Quillota Sur, Quillota Centro, La Cruz, Guerra, and La Calera. However, new reports indicate that construction would begin in 2025 and be completed in 2028.[10]

During the start of September 2020 the design of the Valencia station was finalized, with construction confirmed to start soon after.[11]

By May of 2022 the bidding process for the station's construction had begun.[12] On August 5 of the same year the construction work began, with an estimated construction time of 18 months costing 10 billion pesos, expecting for the opening date to be around the end of 2023 or during 2024.[13][14] However, construction has been slow due to the effects of having to build the new station with the service continuing as usual (and going through the construction site), causing the opening date to be pushed to the second semester of 2025, tentatively.[15]

Architecture

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Between Puerto and Recreo the line runs at street level, bordering the coast, parallel to Errázuriz and España Avenues. It descends into the tunnel below Viana and Álvarez Avenues, with four underground stations. The line leaves the tunnel at the industrial area of El Salto and continues along a winding path to the inner metropolitan area.

Stations

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Trazado Station Inauguration Date Location Comuna (Borough)

Tramo 1
Valparaíso 		Puerto November 23, 2005 Errázuriz Avenue and Sotomayor Square Valparaíso
Bellavista Errázuriz Avenue and Pudeto Valparaíso
Francia Errázuriz Avenue and Francia Valparaíso
Barón Errázuriz Avenue and Argentina Valparaíso
Portales Av. España and Pellé Valparaíso

Tramo 2
Viña del Mar 		Recreo Av. España and Covadonga Viña del Mar
Miramar Álvarez and Von Schroeders Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar Álvarez and Eduardo Grove Square Viña del Mar
Hospital Álvarez and Simón Bolívar Viña del Mar
Chorrillos Álvarez and Lusitania Viña del Mar
El Salto 3250 Limache Avenue Viña del Mar

Tramo 3
Quilpué 		Valencia c. 2024 Condell Sur Avenue and Pasaje Once Quilpué
Quilpué November 23, 2005 Condell Sur Avenue and Vicuña Mackenna Quilpué
El Sol Baquedano Avenue and Aviador Acevedo Quilpué
El Belloto Aviador Acevedo and Gómez Carreño Quilpué

Tramo 4
Villa Alemana 		Las Américas Berlín/Ibáñez and Las Américas Villa Alemana
La Concepción Berlín/Ibáñez and Pudeto Villa Alemana
Villa Alemana Berlín and Armando La Torre Villa Alemana
Sargento Aldea Domingo Composto and Togo Villa Alemana
Peñablanca Sargento Aldea and Presidente Montt Villa Alemana

Tramo 5
Limache 		Limache Arturo Prat and José Tomás Urmeneta Limache

Tramo 6
Future extension 		San Pedro c. 2027 TBC Quillota
Quillota Sur Quillota
Quillota Centro Quillota
La Cruz La Cruz
Guerra La Calera
La Calera La Calera

Fleet and operations

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Valparaiso Metro has a fleet of 35 trains; 27 single-deck multiple-car X'Trapolis 100 train sets manufactured by Alstom, France operate the service, in a blue and white livery and 8 single-deck multiple-car X'Trapolis Modular train sets manufactured by Alstom, in Barcelona.

Services operate 06:30-22:30 on weekdays; 07:30-22.30 on Saturday, and 08:00-22:15 on Sunday and public holidays. Services between Puerto and Sargento Aldea are most frequent, at 6-minute frequencies, with 12-minute frequencies elsewhere, 12 minutes on weekends and public holidays.[16]

Ticketing and fares

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Route map

To access the services of Metro Valparaiso the only means of payment is the Metroval card, a smart contactless card, costing CLP$1,350 (US$2.05) in May 2016 and sold at all stations. The card can be loaded in all ticket offices with cash or Redcompra; the minimum charge for general users is $300 and $1,000 to use Redcompra, all loads must be multiples of $100. It is scanned both entering and leaving stations since fares depend on the length of the journey and the time of day. There are five Zones and three time-of-day fares. Tickets cost from CLP$410 (US$0.62) in low-usage hours within Zone 1 (T1) to CLP$864 (US$1.31) in rush-hour travelling through five zones, for example from Valparaíso to Limache. The service "Bus Metro" in the Limache Station to the cities of Limache Viejo, Olmué, Quillota and La Calera cost between CLP$787(US$1.19) and CLP$1460 (US$2.22).

There are concession cards for students, senior citizens, disabled or handicapped people and tourists (This card allows unlimited travel on the day of acquisition and cost CLP$2.360 or US$3.58), Children below one metre in height travel for free.

Customer services and information offices are in 3 stations; Viña del Mar, Puerto and Limache.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "XIX Memoria Anual 2013" [2013 Annual Report] (PDF) (in Spanish). Metro Valparaíso S.A. p. 16. Retrieved 2014-07-26.
  2. ^ a b Memoria Anual Metro Valparaiso S.A. 2020 (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). 2021-04-15. p. 42 – via EFE Trenes de Chile – Menor tiempo de viaje con más y mejor calidad de vida.
  3. ^ "Conócenos - Historia - El Servicio Ferroviario del siglo XXI" [About Us - History - The Railway Service of the 21st century] (in Spanish). Metro Valparaíso. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  4. ^ Schwandl, Robert. "Valparaíso". UrbanRail.net. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  5. ^ LOGIN Noticias. "LOGIN Noticias - Proyecto de extensión de Metro Valparaíso a Quillota-La Calera es rentable socialmente". www.login.cl (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  6. ^ "Studies underway to extend Valparaíso rail system - BNamericas". BNamericas. 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  7. ^ Barría, Audénico (13 May 2019). "Reactivan proyecto para extender Metro Valparaíso hasta La Calera". El Mercurio (in Spanish). p. 8. ISSN 0718-6037 – via Consejo de Políticas de Infraestructura (CPI).
  8. ^ "Chile's Santiago-Valparaíso high-speed rail viable - study".
  9. ^ "Extensión Tren Limache – Puerto a Quillota y La Calera – EFE Trenes de Chile". www.efe.cl. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  10. ^ Valencia, Jean (2023-04-18). "Proyecto ferroviario de Limache a La Calera: sondeos arqueológicos podrían retrasar obras hasta 2 años". BioBio Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  11. ^ Tapia, Daniel (2020-09-05). "Confirman nuevo diseño y construcción de la Estación Valencia del MERVAL". La Opinión Online (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  12. ^ "EFE Valparaíso inició licitación para construcción de estación Valencia en Quilpué". Cooperativa. 30 April 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  13. ^ 24horas (5 August 2022). "Autoridades inspeccionan faenas de futura estación de Metro Valencia en Quilpué". www.24horas.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-08-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Prensa (5 August 2022). "Estación Valencia: comienzan los primeros trabajos de la fase de construcción". Radio Festival (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  15. ^ "Estación Valencia de EFE comenzaría a funcionar antes de octubre de 2025". El Observador.
  16. ^ "Viaje en Metro - Frecuencia" [Metro Travel - Frequency] (in Spanish). Metro Valparaíso. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
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