2010: The Opening of an Addition to the Santiago Metro

January 12, 2010

An inaugural ceremony was held for an addition to the rapid transit system serving Chile’s capital city of Santiago. This extension of Line 5 of the Santiago Metro covered 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) between Quinta Normal metro station (opened in 2004) at Catedral Street and Matucana Avenue; and Pudahuel metro station at San Pablo Avenue and Teniente Avenue. The other rapid transit facilities forming this newly built segment of Line 5 were Grata de Lourdes, Blanqueado, Lo Prado, and San Pablo metro stations.

The ceremony marking the debut of this extension took place at Pudahuel metro station. Michelle Bachelet (born in 1951), who was president of Chile from 2006 to 2010 (and again between 2014 and 2018), officiated at this event. In her remarks, she underscored how this augmentation of the Santiago Metro would further improve the quality of life for area residents relying on public transportation. Pudahuel metro station (depicted in the accompanying photo) remained the western terminus of Line 5 until the debut of Plaza de Maipú metro station on February 3, 2011.

Line 5 now encompasses 30 metro stations and 18.5 miles (29.7 kilometers) altogether. The Santiago Metro in its entirety encompasses a total of seven lines, 143 metro stations, and 92.6 miles (149 kilometers).

Photo Credit: B1mbo (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:B1mbo) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

For more information on the Santiago Metro, please check out https://www.urbanrail.net/am/sant/santiago.htm