Vicente Valdes Station in Metro de Santiago

Arup has been appointed by Metro de Santiago to lead the concept design of 11 stations in the Chilean capital. The scope of the project covers some of the most challenging stations on two new lines being built by the operator – Lines 3 and 6 – and the work will involve creating interchanges with existing lines on the metro network. Metro de Santiago already boasts the most extensive metro system in South America and the project to add Lines 3 and 6 will extend the reach of the network by some 28 stations and 37 km in total. The work will also add capacity to some of the busiest existing metro lines when the new lines open in 2016 / 2017. Arup Project Director, Leszek Dobrovolsky, said, “We are delighted that Metro de Santiago has appointed Arup to bring our world-class experience to bear on the new lines. Our global expertise in metro systems played a part in winning the work, but it was our ability to respond to local programmes and context, cost and programme constraints that clinched it. This stands as a testament to Arup’s ability to provide cost-effective metro solutions throughout Latin America and across the globe. We are also proud to be working with leaders such as Metro de Santiago who are routinely consulted by other metro operators from around the world wishing to benefit from their operational excellence. They are recognised experts in the field, having won the Metro Award this year for ‘Best Subway System in the Americas’”. Dobrovolsky notes that Arup’s team have some interesting technical and design challenges ahead as the new lines will run deeper than the existing network. However, he points out that the designers and engineers on the job have all the multidisciplinary skills necessary to meet the challenge in the most cost-effective way. The scope of Arup’s work covers station planning, tunnel and station ventilation, fire engineering, passenger movement analysis, and optimisation of passenger experience. Notes to Editors 1. Metro de Santiago currently operates a 103km long network on 5 separate lines and branches. The first line opened in 1975. 2. The metro serves a population of some 6 million people in the metropolitan area around the capital. 3. When both new lines are finished, the Santiago metro network will have a total of 140 km of lines, 136 stations and will reach 26 municipalities. It will make a total of 2.7 million journeys each day or 800 million journeys per year.