Valparaíso Metro

The Valparaíso Metro Spanish: Metro Valparaíso, also called "Merval" is the rapid transit light rail system serving the urban conglomeration of Gran Valparaíso, Chile It consists of one line, 43 kilometres 27 mi long, serving 20 stations,1 connecting the cities of Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana, and Limache1 outside the Valparaíso conurbation

It is administered by Metro Regional de Valparaíso SA, a subsidiary of the Chilean state-owned train company Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado The Valparaíso Metro began with the conversion of an interurban rail line into more rapid transit-like service in 20053 – the renovated line was inaugurated on November 23, 2005 and began rapid transit operations the following day The Valparaíso Metro carried 1931 million passengers in 20152

Together with the much bigger Santiago Metro, it is one of the only two subway systems in Chile the Valparaíso Metro has a 5-kilometre 31 mi underground stretch from Miramar through Chorrillos stations in Viña del Mar, "but cannot be classified as a full metro due to the existence of various level crossings and the long distances between stations on the eastern section of the line" according to Robert Schwandl of UrbanRailnet4 As a result of the presence of at-grade level crossings, the Valparaíso Metro is most analogous to a light rail systemoriginal research

Valparaíso Metro symbol

1 History
2 Architecture
3 Fleet and operations
4 Ticketing and fares
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Historyedit

Train entering Puerto

Valparaíso had an interurban passenger train system since the 19th century, but it could not be considered a rapid transit system due to infrequent service and other operational shortcomings In 1999 construction began on the current system, tearing down the old interurban stations and building new ones with an homologous design In Viña del Mar, a tunnel over 5-kilometre 31 mi long was constructed New trains arrived in Chile on February 22, 2005 and the old system was decommissioned on June 30 that year, in favor of the new Valparaíso Metro rapid transit system on the line

Architectureedit

Route map

Between Puerto and Recreo the line runs at street level, bordering the coast, parallel to Errázuriz and España Avenues It descends into tunnel below Viana and Álvarez Avenues, with four underground stations The line leaves the tunnel at the industrial area of El Salto, and continues along a winding path to the inner metropolitan area

Fleet and operationsedit

Valparaiso Metro has a fleet of 35 trains; 27 single-deck multiple-car X'Trapolis 100 train sets manufactured by Alstom, France operate the service, in a blue and white livery and 8 single-dech multiple-car X'Trapolis Modular train sets manufactured by Alstom, in Barcelona

Services operate 06:30-22:30 on weekdays; 07:30-2230 on Saturday, and 08:00-22:15 on Sunday and public holidays Services between Puerto and Sargento Aldea are most frequent, at 6-minute frequencies, with 12-minute frequencies elsewhere, 12 minutes on weekends and public holidays5

Ticketing and faresedit

Limache-bound unit at Portales

To access the services of Metro Valparaiso the only means of payment is the Metroval card, a smart contactless card, costing CLP$1,350 US$ 205 in May 2016 and sold at all stations, It is scanned both entering and leaving stations, since fares depend on the length of the journey and the time of day The card can be loaded in all ticket offices with cash or Redcompra The minimum charge for general users is $ 300 and $ 1,000 to use Redcompra All loads must be multiples of $ 100 There are five Zones and three time-of-day fares Tickets cost from CLP$410 US$ 062 in low-usage hours within Zone 1 T1 to CLP$864 US$ 131 in rush-hour travelling through five zones, for example from Valparaíso to Limache Entering and leaving the same station results in charging the highest fare The service "Bus + Metro" in the Limache Station to the cities of Limache Viejo, Olmué, Quillota and La Calera cost between CLP$787US$ 119 and CLP$1460 US$ 222

There are concession cards for students, senior citizens, disabled or handicapped people and tourists This card allows unlimited travel on the day of acquisition and cost CLP$2360 or US$ 358, Children below one metre in height travel for free

A customer services and informations offices are in 3 stations; Viña del Mar, Puerto and Limache

Referencesedit

^ a b c d e "XIX Memoria Anual 2013" 2013 Annual Report pdf in Spanish Metro Valparaíso SA p 16 Retrieved 2014-07-26
^ a b "XIX Memoria Anual 2013" 2013 Annual Report pdf in Spanish Metro Valparaíso SA p 22 Retrieved 2014-07-26
^ "Conócenos - Historia - El Servicio Ferroviario del siglo XXI" About Us - History - The Railway Service of the 21st century in Spanish Metro Valparaíso Retrieved 2014-07-25
^ Schwandl, Robert "Valparaíso" UrbanRailnet Retrieved 2014-07-25
^ "Viaje en Metro - Frecuencia" Metro Travel - Frequency in Spanish Metro Valparaíso Retrieved 2016-07-03