The Valparaíso Metro ( es, Metro Valparaíso, formerly called "Merval") is the

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

system serving the urban conglomeration of Gran Valparaíso,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It consists of one line, long, serving 20 stations, connecting the cities of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located within ...

Quilpué Quilpué is a city and capital of the Marga Marga Province in central Chile's Valparaíso Region. It is part of the Greater Valparaíso metropolitan area. It is widely known as "City of the Sun" (''Ciudad del Sol'') and the urban part of it als ...

Villa Alemana Villa Alemana ("German Village" in English) is a city and commune in Chile's Zona Central. It was founded in 1896 by Italian and German immigrants. Villa Alemana is a part of the urban area known as Greater Valparaiso. Villa Alemana's flag is ...

, and Limache (outside the Valparaíso conurbation). It is administered by Metro Regional de Valparaíso S.A., 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 The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

service on the

Santiago–Valparaíso railway line The Santiago–Valparaíso railway is a railway line linking the Chilean capital city Santiago with the port city of Valparaíso. History The existing rail line between Santiago and Valparaíso was opened in 1863, and is long, single-track and ...

into more rapid transit-like service in 2005 – the renovated line was inaugurated on November 23, 2005 and began service the following day. The Valparaíso Metro carried 19.66 million passengers in 2016. Together with the much larger

Santiago Metro The Santiago Metro ( es, Metro de Santiago) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 136 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by ...

, it is one of the only two underground

urban rail Urban rail transit is an all-encompassing term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories ...

systems in Chile (the Valparaíso Metro has a underground stretch from Miramar through Chorrillos stations in Viña del Mar). However, it is not a full metro system due to the existence of various level crossings and the long distances between stations. As a result of the presence of at-grade level crossings and

regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

character, the Valparaíso Metro is more analogous to a

system. Studies are being done to assess the feasibility of extending the line farther inland along the Valparaíso-Santiago Railway to serve the towns of

Quillota Quillota is a city located in the Aconcagua River valley in central Chile's Valparaíso Region. It is the capital and largest city of Quillota Province, where many inhabitants live in the outlying farming areas of San Isidro, La Palma, Pococ ...

, La Cruz, and La Calera which are currently being served by intercity buses (Bus+Metro services) that feed into Limache Station. In addition, passenger and freight service between Valparaíso and Santiago is proposed to use the line.

History

had an

passenger train system since the 19th century. In 1999 construction began on the current system, rebuilding the old interurban stations and building new ones with a homologous design. In

, a tunnel over long was constructed. New trains arrived in Chile on February 22, 2005 and the old system was decommissioned on June 30 that year, in favour of the new Valparaíso Metro service.

Architecture

Between Puerto and Recreo the line runs at street level, bordering the coast, parallel to Errázuriz and España Avenues. It descends into the 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 operations

Valparaiso Metro has a fleet of 35 trains; 27 single-deck multiple-car

X'Trapolis 100 The X'Trapolis 100 is a class of single deck electric multiple units part of Alstom's X'Trapolis family of trains, operated in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Valparaíso, Chile. Melbourne In service When originally introduced to the su ...

train sets manufactured by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

operate the service, in a blue and white

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

and 8 single-deck multiple-car X'Trapolis Modular train sets manufactured by

, in Barcelona. Services operate 06:30-22:30 on weekdays; 07:30-22.30 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 holidays.

Ticketing and fares

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$2.05) in May 2016 and sold at all stations. 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. It is scanned both entering and leaving stations since fares depend on the length of the journey and the time of day. There are five Zones and three time-of-day fares. Tickets cost from CLP$410 (US$0.62) in low-usage hours within Zone 1 (T1) to CLP$864 (US$1.31) in rush-hour travelling through five zones, for example from Valparaíso to Limache. The service "Bus + Metro" in the Limache Station to the cities of Limache Viejo, Olmué, Quillota and La Calera cost between CLP$787(US$1.19) and CLP$1460 (US$2.22). 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$2.360 or US$3.58), Children below one metre in height travel for free. Customer services and information offices are in 3 stations; Viña del Mar, Puerto and Limache. Image:Valpotren.jpg, upright=1.01,

train at Puerto Image:Estacion Portales Metro Valparaiso.jpg, upright=1.05, Outbound unit at Caleta Portales File:Estación Viña del Mar.jpg, Viña del Mar station File:Germancius-1448836986426.jpg, An X'Trapolis Modular unit

References

External links