CHILE: National operator EFE Trenes de Chile has signed a contract for Marcopolo Rail to supply three two-car Prosper VLT diesel multiple-units for the recently modernised metre-gauge Talca – Constitución line.
Brazilian bus manufacturer Marcopolo announced at the NT Expo trade fair in São Paulo in March 2019 that it is moving into the production of rail vehicles under the Marcopolo Rail brand. The company unveiled the prototype of its first train, the Prosper VLT, in December 2020. The company is also supplying vehicles for São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport peoplemover.
The US$15m contract for the Prosper VLT DMUs includes the supply of spare parts and maintenance. The trains will be equipped with air-conditioning and USB ports and folding tables in the saloon. They will also have spaces for passengers with reduced mobility and an accessible toilet. Each train will have capacity for 223 passengers, including 80 seated.
Production of the trains is scheduled begin in the first half of 2023 at the Ana Rech Industrial Complex of Marcopolo in Caxias do Sul in Brazil. The first train is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2024.
‘The supply of trains to Chile will strengthen our operations and favour entry into other markets in Latin America, with the possibility of expanding mobility on rails’, said Petras Amaral Santos, head of Marcopolo Rail.
Infrastructure modernisation on the 88 km line that links the coastal resort of Constitución with Talca was completed at the end of November. The work cost 1·57bn pesos. The end-to-end journey time has been brought down from 3 h 15 min to 2 h 45 min.
A maintenance depot will also be built at a cost of US$21m.
