Panama Metro opens

The President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, has inaugurated line 1 of the Panama Metro – Central America’s first subway system.

Martinelli was joined by the Minister for Canal Affairs and executive secretary of Panama Metro, Roberto Roy, on April 5 for the opening of the 15.9 kilometre system which connects Albrook national bus station in the north to San Isidro station in the south.

A consortium comprising FCC and Brazilian company Odebrecht, alongside Alstom Transport, have delivered the €1.5 billion system in just three years.

The city is already planning a 2.2-kilometre extension.

As well as supplying the line’s new fleet of 57 metro cars, Alstom installed the system’s CBTC train control system.

Having been built at Santa Perpetua in Spain, the 19 trainsets had to be shipped across the Mediterranean, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, before arriving in Panama Canal.




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