The Dominican Republic has opened the second line of the Santo Domingo metro, which runs on an east-west alignment from María Montez to Eduardo Brito.

Revenue services on the line are scheduled to start on 7 April 2013; until then passengers will be able to travel free of charge.

The 12.8km first phase of the line comprises 14 stations and will have an interchange with the north-south Line 1 at Juan Pablo Duarte.

Construction on the $830m Line 2 project started in 2010 and it is expected to transport around 400,000 passengers a day by the end of 2013.

The second phase of Line 2 will extend the line to 21km with a total of 20 stations.

The expansion of the metro system is part of a national plan to improve public transport and relieve congestion on the road network.

The Eurodom consortium, comprising Siemens, Thales, Cim-Tso and Sofratesa, were responsible for supplying signalling, electrification, communication, tunnel ventilation, fire prevention equipment and ticketing systems for the line.

Thales supplied communications, signalling, supervision and fare collection equipment for the project.

Siemens was responsible for project management, train control, as well as installation of a 1.5kV dc overhead conductor rail.

A fleet of 15 three-car Metropolis train sets from Alstom will run on the new metro line, with each vehicle capable of accommodating up to 617 passengers.

The metro trains are equipped with air conditioning, video surveillance and passenger information systems.

The first line of the Santo Domingo metro was inaugurated at the end of 2008; the two metro lines’ north-south and east-west routes now divide the city into four quadrants.

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Image: The second line of the Santo Domingo metro will start revenue services from 7 April 2013. Photo: courtesy of Thales Group.