Metro de Santiago calls for consultancy services for construction of Line No. 7

Santiago’s metro operator Metro de Santiago has put out a tender for consultancy and engineering services in relation to its new metro line. Line No. 7 is set to begin construction in 2020 and will add 19 new subterranean metro stations to the Santiago metro network. The tender comes as line No. 3 moves further towards completion and the newly formed Chilean government returns for a second term, with the operator announcingthree additional lines by 2026.

Santiago’s publicly held systems operator Metro de Santiago has announced a tender for engineering and consultancy services to aid in the construction, planning and project management of the new Line No. 7. Applications for the tender opened in May and bid submissions for consulting on the $2.5 billion project must be put forward on the 13th of July. 

The contract will go to either an individual firm or a consortium of consulting firms which, as directed by the Chilean Government, must have prior experience in the field. According to documents related to the tender, firms which submitted an expression of interest must have held two contracts worth upwards of $200 million in the previous ten years. 

The new metro line will extend through 25 kilometres of the city’s urban spread stretching from Vitacura in the east to the Renca district, west of the city. If all goes well, the beginning of construction will coincide with the completion of the new metro line No. 3, which is set to service over 1 million residents of Santiago. 

The public transport push by the Chilean Government is an attempt to modernize the country’s outdated network and prepare for increased urban mobility challenges. As part of the City of Santiago’s Integral Mobility Plan, the new metro lines will act as the foundations for diversifying urban mobility within the city limits.

The plan aims to transition the city towards a more sustainable urban mobility network and includes plans for extending metro hours, creating green spaces which favor pedestrians over cars and extending cycling routes, as well as eliminating vehicle lanes and parking lots.

Line No. 7 is a part of the urban mobility shakeup in Santiago which the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera announced early in his second term. Piñera’s Transport Plan of the Third Millennium will include three new metro lines – of which line No. 7 is one – adding an additional 44 new stations, integrating five districts into the PT network and extending the city’s metro system by 57km. 

According to Piñera, when the overhaul is complete, an additional "50% of the population of Santiago will be able to walk from their home to a Metro station. If we add Line 0, which will allow bicycles to be integrated with the Metro, this percentage will increase even more. We will also do our part to move decisively towards buses and electric taxis which are cheaper, produce less pollution and quieter.”

Piñera said that the Third Millennium Transportation System also incorporates modernizations and extensions of the transportation system in other urban regions, including Valparaíso, Merval and Biobío, through a Biotren and high speed rail, but also in the other regions, through modernization of fleets, technologies and new trains and trams. 

The Chilean President has also announced additional services for other Chilean cities including a metro in Valparaíso, a biotrain light rail system in Concepción, and making the high speed train between Valparaíso and Santiago a high priority for the government.