A TURNKEY contract to build and equip the first 6·9 km of Maracaibo’s planned light rail network was awarded to Siemens Verkehrstechnik last month. Siemens announced on August 9 that it had won the 155m euros package, which includes the depot, six stations and 12 LRVs.
Metro de Maracaibo is planning to develop a four-line network totalling 60 route-km in Venezuela’s second city (MR 00 p42). The Siemens contract covers the first half of the 14 km Line 1, linking Calle Libertador in the city centre with the airport at Altos de la Vanenga. The line will be fully segregated, with 4·7 km at-grade, 1·4 km elevated and a 700m cut-and-cover tunnel leading to the depot site.
Services are expected to start in 2003. Two-car trains 60m long will be able to run at a minimum headway of 3min.
The second phase of Line 1 would run north along Avenida Las Delicias to Circunvalacion 2, and later to Milagro Norte. Line 2 would run east-west through the heart of the city, with Lines 3 and 4 running from the northern suburbs to the adjoining municipality of San Francisco in the south.
