PANAMA: The second line of the Panamá City metro opened for revenue service on April 25.
Line 2 runs on an entirely elevated alignment east from an interchange with Line 1 at San Miguelito to Nuevo Tocumen via San Antonio and Hospital del Este. The 21 km route serves 16 stations with an end-to-end journey time of 35 min, compared with the 90 min that the journey previously took by road.
A groundbreaking ceremony in October 2015 marked the start of work, which was undertaken by the Línea 2 consortium of Odebrecht (60%) and FCC (40%).
E&M work was undertaken by the Grupo de Empresas consortium of Alstom, Thales, Sofratesa, CIM and TSO. Consortium leader Alstom has supplied a fleet of 21 five-car Metropolis trainsets from its Santa Perpètua de Mogoda factory near Barcelona. These are stabled at a depot in Nuevo Tocumen accessed by a 1·2 km spur from the running line. CIM subsidiary Mechan has supplied 20 lifting jacks, four turntables and 40 vehicle stands for the depot.
Alstom also supplied traction substations including a Hesop reversible substation. Alstom’s Urbalis CBTC signalling is designed for 90 sec headways, giving Line 2 a design capacity of 40 000 passengers/h per direction. Thales supplied the operation control centre, SCADA systems and a TETRA radio network.
A consortium of TMB, Ayesa and Louis Berger undertook project management and technical assistance under a US$32m five-year contract, while TY Lin Engineering supported the engineering and E&M systems, and provided consultancy and design services. Local firms Plades and CSA Group assisted with utility relocation, and Mallol Arquitectos advised on urban planning issues. Station design and architecture was undertaken by Perez & Perez.
A southwestern extension of Line 2 to Parque Urracá is planned. This would add 11 stations, including an interchange with Line 1 at Iglesia del Carmen.
- A detailed feature article on the Panamá City metro appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Metro Report International.
