The Medellín Metro (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''Metro de Medellín'') is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

system that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. It first opened for service on 30 November 1995. As one of the first implementations of modern mass transportation in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and the only metro system in the country, the Medellín Metro is a product of the urban planning of the

Antioquia department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part o ...

of Colombia. It is part of the Aburrá Valley Integrated Transport System (''Sistema Integrado de Transporte del Valle de Aburrá'', SITVA). The city of

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

and its urban complex (ten cities in the

Aburrá Valley Aburrá Valley (in Spanish ''Valle de Aburrá''), is the natural river basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 4 million inhabitants in its biggest urban agglomeration: The M ...

) had a period of relatively recent industrial development that started in the 1930s. The streetcar (''tranvía'') at the beginning of the 20th century can be considered a predecessor of the current Medellín Metro. The company known in Spanish as ''Empresa de Transporte Masivo del Valle de Aburrá'' - ''Metro de Medellín Ltda'' was created on 31 May 1979.

History

The railway history of Colombia and Antioquia has not been indifferent to the industrialization process that started at the end of the 19th century and that only has been restrained by the social and political conflicts of this South American nation. The Antioquia Department, and the

Paisa Region A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia, including part of the West and Central ''cordilleras'' of the Andes in Colombia. The Paisa region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. ...

in general, owe their progress to the construction of railways that put them in direct contact with the rest of the country (especially with

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

and the Colombian Caribbean Littoral). Although the famous Antioquia Railway came to a decline and is now only remembered by the so-called ''towns of the train'', an urban railway system received the attention of the region. In the same way Antioquia's Railways had a century ago, the Medellín Metro became an important social, cultural and development axis in one of the most important cities of Colombia and South America. The city's speedy urban growth, especially since the 1960s, has filled the entire Aburrá Valley and made towns touch its borders: Bello, Copacabana, Girardota, Barbosa,

Envigado Envigado () is a city and municipality due South of Medellín, Colombia in the department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. It is located in the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley. It borders El Poblado, Medellín to the north, Sabaneta, An ...

, Itagüí, San Antonio de Prado, La Estrella, Sabaneta and Caldas, among others. With the growth of the city placing Medellín among the most economically important cities in the nation, local leaders were compelled to view the city as a complex, urban system comparable to other industrialized cities in the world, rather than as a provincial town. In the same sense,

and its Metropolitan Area had to face the appearance of cartels during the 1970s, which produced serious problems of urban violence exacerbated by speedy urban growth and slow answers to the needs of the surrounding communities. The city grew due to big waves of migrants coming from the Colombian countryside looking for refuge from internal political conflict. This background explains why the young city would face urban violence with the same intensity as large metropolitan areas such as

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

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and why the city had to create urban projects in answer to its conflicts and growth. The Medellín Metro was created not only as a massive urban transport solution for the working class residents of the city, but also as an important cultural symbol that would help develop marginalized sectors. The Metro would change the concept of public space in a city built for business and factories that had the systematic issue of lacking space for things like tourism. As a company, the Medellín Metro was created for the administration and operation of the Metro system. It was founded with the association of the

Municipality and the Antioquia Government. In 1979, research on economic and technical possibilities began, performed by the company '' Mott, Hay and Anderson Ltd''. In 1980 the project was presented to the National Government, and in 1982 it was approved by the National Council of Economic and Social Policies. It also gave the company an external contract of 100% of the required resources for the work. In 1984 the company subcontracted German and Spanish firms. On 30 November 1995, 11:00 (local time), the first journey between Niquía and Poblado Stations began. The first phase of the metro network was completed in 1996. The citizens soon welcomed the new service, and the social and cultural impact was significant. The Medellín Metro soon became a symbol of the city (it was the first, and still the only, rail-based Metro system in Colombia) which encouraged tourism and new business growth in areas of the city. There were visitors first from other regions and cities of Colombia and afterwards from abroad. Importantly, the metro bridged previously disparate poor urban and wealthy urban areas. The Metro passes through districts with widely varied socio-economic compositions. For example, it passes through both "Lovaina" and "Poblado". Commuters also saw a vast improvement in transit times. For example, a two-hour bus trip from Bello to

requires only 30 minutes on the Metro.

Network

The Medellín Metro currently comprises two lines: ''Line A'', which is long and serves 21 stations, and ''Line B'', which is long and serves 6 stations (plus San Antonio station, the transfer station with Line A). There is also a tram line: ''Line T-A'' ( Ayacucho Tram). Additionally, the aerial cable car system, Metrocable, which supplements the Metro system, comprises five lines: ''Line J'' with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Metro Line B), ''Line K'' with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Line L), ''Line L'' with one station (plus one transfer station with Line K), ''Line H'' with two stations (plus one transfer station with Line T-A), ''Line M'' with two stations (plus one transfer station with Line T-A) and ''Line P'' with three stations (plus one transfer station with Line A). As of 2019, there are 27 Metro stations, 18 Metrocable stations, 3 Tramway stations (+ 6 stops), 20 BRT stations (+ 8 feeding buses stops) in the Medellín network, all listed in the following table; for a total of approx. 79 stations (14 stops); transfer stations are in bold, and the transfer station between Metro Lines A and B is shown in bold-italic:

Expansions

Metrocable

On 7 August 2004, the city inaugurated a new line known as "Metro Cable" (Line K). The line starts in the Acevedo Station and goes to the up hill district of Santo Domingo Savio. This important addition integrated new additions to the city that since the 1960s that previously were not considered part of the "real city". On 3 March 2008, a second "Metro Cable" line (Line J) was inaugurated. The line starts in the San Javier Station and goes through Juan XXIII and Vallejuelos to the La Aurora district. This new line benefits approximately 150,000 new users. A new Metrocable line (line L) was inaugurated in 2009 with a transfer station at Santo Domingo Savio Station. This line continues further uphill to El Tambo in Arví park near

Guarne Guarne is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. In 2020, the population was estimated to be 52,129. It is part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. It is situated 24 km east of Medellín. History The first sett ...

. The reason for constructing this line is because the city wants to promote tourism in the rural area near Lake Guarne. It takes 14 minutes to ascend to El Tambo and there are no intermediate stations.

Line A extension

Line A was expanded from Itagüí to La Estrella, in the south of the metropolitan area. A new intermediate station, Sabaneta, built near 67th South Street, was opened on 5 August 2012 and the final station, La Estrella, was built near 77th South Street and opened on 17 September 2012.

Train line

In February 2020 it was announced that Medellín will reactivate the train line between Bello and Caldas.

Rolling stock

Initially, there were 42 three-car train sets built by the manufacturer

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

, however, in 2009, the Medellín Metro signed a contract with Spanish manufacturer CAF for 12 three-car train sets that were delivered between that year and 2011. In 2017, the Medellín Metro purchased another set of 26 CAF trains to complement their fleet, with 38 CAF trains in total, and 80 trains with both the MAN and CAF fleet. File:Estacion Estadio-plataforma-Medellin(2).JPG, MAN Train File:Metro nuevos (5).JPG, CAF Train

Network map

References

External links

* *
Civica – official webpage of the AFC of Metro de Medellín

at urbanrail.net {{Coord missing, Colombia Railway lines opened in 1995 Passenger rail transport in Colombia 1500 V DC railway electrification