Alstom delivered the first three cars of the additional fleet for Panama Metro Line 1. The contract was awarded to a consortium led by Alstom, and composed of Thales, Sofratesa, CIM and TSO. Alstom will also upgrade the existing signalling and power supply infrastructure, required to run the extended fleet with five cars per train.
Line 1 of the Panama Metro was inaugurated in April 2014. It is approximately 16km long with 14 stations and it runs through Panama City, from North to South. The expansion of the fleet was made necessary due to the tremendous commercial success of the line in terms of ridership, which, with more than 275,000 passengers per day, goes far beyond initial forecast. The current fleet will be reconfigured from 20 3-car trains as of today to 26 5-car units.
“We are pleased to announce the on time delivery of these additional cars for Panama Metro which comply with the required technical specifications. We are delighted to offer a high-quality solution to passengers who use the service daily” announced Xavier Boisgontier, managing director North LAM.
The Alstom Metropolis trains are manufactured in Santa Perpetua plant in Barcelona, Spain. Metropolis trains for Panama meet with the highest standards in environmental terms, due to maintaining low energy consumption through light weight trains, as well as through the optimization of its traction performance and energy recuperation. The train reaches maximum speeds of 90 km/h and includes a communication and information system for passengers. Furthermore, the trains offer wide access doors, a large capacity for passengers within the corridors to increase circulation between the cars, internal LED lights and a CCTV security system.
Alstom is also providing an integrated metro system for Line 2 of Panama Metro, which includes 21 Metropolis trainsets, Hesop reversible substations, and Urbalis — Alstom’s Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) solution which controls the movement of the trains and enables to run at higher frequencies and speeds in total safety.
