SYSTRA accompanies the extension of Santiago’s automatic metro

This inauguration is the culmination for SYSTRA of a project that began in April 2021. This is the first automatic metro extension for Santiago. SYSTRA was responsible for integrating the systems and carrying out tests prior to commissioning.

This is another successfully completed metro project for SYSTRA in Santiago, but it is also a first for us. In fact, it was an extension to an automatic line which required the mobilisation of several “Systems” experts, i.e. some fifteen specialists in Santiago, Lyon and Paris.

Hervé Laurain, Hispanic America Cluster Director

SYSTRA orchestrates an unprecedented extension project

SYSTRA initially provided technical assistance to the project teams of the operator Metro S.A., a long-standing client with whom we have been involved since 1968 in the creation of the Chilean capital’s underground network. Between 2021 and 2023, our teams supported the systems engineering and testing phases, before assuming a cross-functional integration role by monitoring interfaces, planning, and then monitoring the systems changeover.

This last, crucial stage presented several challenges. First and foremost, we had to take into consideration the specific nature of Metro S.A.’s operating systems, namely the interoperability between Santiago’s line 3 and line 6, which operate on the same systems. As the client wanted to carry out the test run during the operating hours of line 3, all the test plans had to be reviewed, and the existing systems equipment installed on the ground and on board the trains had to be modified in record time, including the CBTC systems, which are the most critical and necessary for automatic piloting.

As the changeover of systems concerned both the new line and the sections in commercial operation, we had to analyse all possible degraded mode scenarios to avoid any return to the previous version and include in the planning a safety file that took into account passenger operation for the start of the dry run. The success of our assignment would not have been possible without the participation of specialists from the Group, and SYSTRA France in particular, who were familiar with the project, its origins, and all the stages involved in bringing it into service.

Nour-Eddine Didi, SYSTRA project manager specialised in CBTC rolling stock

Santiago line 3: a SYSTRA project

Inaugurated on 22 January 2019, line 3 of the Santiago metro saw SYSTRA become involved right from the preliminary studies before providing technical assistance for the design of the rail systems on this line, the second to be 100% automatic from the moment it enters service. The line links the towns of La Reina on the northern outskirts of Santiago to Quilicura in the east, connecting with all the lines on the network. In terms of journey time, this metro line saves each passenger the equivalent of one day per month.

The Santiago metro has 7 lines. Line 3 now has a total of 21 stations fully accessible to PRMs (persons with reduced mobility) and 25km of track entirely underground.