Metro de Medellin
The Metro de Medellín is a local transport system in the metropolitan area of the Colombian city of Medellín . It is the only elevated railway in Colombia. The greater Medellín area is located in the Aburrá Valley and consists of ten cities. Due to the industrial development since the 1930s, the area is constantly growing. The forerunner of the elevated railway was the tram (tranvía), which was built at the beginning of the 20th century. From it the elevated railway developed, whose operating company Empresa de Transporte Masivo del Valle de Aburrá - Metro de Medellín Ltda was founded on May 31, 1979. The Medellín elevated railway is currently indebted to around 1.23 billion euros. These debts are expected to be paid off over the next 50 to 60 years.
history
The history of the railways in Colombia and in the Antioquia district was not very different from the industrialization processes that began at the end of the 19th century. They were subject to restrictions due to social and political conflicts in this South American country. The Antioquia district and the Paisa region pushed ahead with the construction of a railway network and quickly found connections to the rest of the country's transport routes.
Although the Ferrocarriles de Antioquia (Railway Antioquia) came to an abrupt end and so-called railway towns are still remembered today, the importance of the route in the metropolitan area grew.
The rapid growth of the city, especially from the 1960s, filled the entire Aburrá Valley. This led to the cities of the valley moving into the center of the national economy and forcing their city councils to no longer only think in terms of locality, but to take responsibility for a complex metropolitan system, comparable to that of the industrialized countries.
The Medellín Metro was therefore not built to serve as a means of mass transportation for the city's working class, but also as an important cultural axis that involved minorities. The elevated railway changed the image of a city that was built for trade and industry, but neglected tourism. The City of Medellín, together with the local government of Antioquia, founded a company in 1979 to be responsible for the management and operation of the elevated railway. In 1980 a draft of the elevated railway was presented to the representatives of the state government, which was approved by the State Council of Economic and Social Affairs in 1982. It was also approved that the construction could be completely handed over to an external company, so that in 1984 German and Spanish companies were commissioned with the construction.
The maiden voyage took place on November 30, 1995 at 11 a.m. local time between the stations Niquía and Poblado. The remainder of the section went into commercial operation in September 1996 at the latest. The elevated railway was received with joy by the population and as a result, tourism in the city was significantly promoted. In addition, the boundaries between the “poor” and “rich” districts were softened.
The travel times were drastically reduced. It took a worker two hours by bus from Bello to Envigado , and the journey on the elevated train was reduced to just half an hour.
In addition, the elevated railway has promoted the public and cultural area with squares, restaurants and leisure facilities.
business
Around 460,000 passengers use the metro every day. It runs from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on weekends from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The frequency of journeys by trains is between three minutes during rush hour and 10 minutes during the rest of the time. During morning and evening rush hours, some trains run between Niquía and San Javier via a link between Caribe (line A) and Suramericana (line B). This route is completely at ground level.
Line A
The route of line A consists of 21 stations and runs 28.5 km in north-south direction from Niquía to La Estrella . Seven of the 21 stops in the city center are built on viaducts, the rest of the overhead line is at ground level. The platform length is 142 m, but this is not fully used because shorter trains with only three cars are used. A trip from one stop to the next takes about 40 minutes. The line connects Medellín (14 stations) with the neighboring communities of Bello in the north with three stations and Envigado , Itagüí , Sabaneta and La Estrella in the south with one station each.
Line B
This line consists of seven stations, including the San Antonio B transfer station, and runs from east to west. With the exception of one station, which is at ground level, the others are at viaduct height. The line was opened on February 28, 1996. The platforms here are only 72 m long, and the entire route takes eleven minutes.
Line K (Metrocable)
On July 30, 2004, a new route was inaugurated as a cable car with Line K. The line begins at Acevedo Station ( 6 ° 18 ′ 1.1 ″ N , 75 ° 33 ′ 30.3 ″ W ) and runs a good two kilometers up to the Domingo Savio district ( 6 ° 17 ′ 35.2 ″ N , 75 ° 32 ′ 30.6 ″ W ).
Line J (Metrocable)
In November 2007 line J (cable car) was put into operation with four additional stations. The route begins at the San Javier metro station, which is the terminus of Line B, and goes up to the La Aurora district.
Line L (Metrocable)
In March 2010, another cable car line was put into operation as Line L. It starts at the terminus of line K in Santo Domingo and leads over the mountain to Parque Natural Arví, which is located on a high plateau. It was built mainly for tourism and will not be integrated into the city's metro network, which means that you have to buy a special ticket to travel on line L.
Line TA (Translohr)
In addition, the TA line , which was opened in 2015 based on the Translohr system, is also integrated into the Metro system. This is a so-called Tramway sur pneumatiques , French for "tram on rubber tires".
