Working Begins At Panama City Metro Line 1

A consortium led by FCC has commenced construction work on the $1.45bn Metro Line 1 project in Panama city in the Republic of Panama.

The metro will eventually cover 14km with 11 stations, some of which will be above ground. Aside from FCC, the consortium includes the Brazilian firm Norberto Odebrecht and Alstom Group.

Line 1 of the metro will run from the national bus terminal at Albrook to Los Andes in the north of the city, and will stretch north to south, linking the city centre with the suburbs in the east.

The new mass transit system, considered to be the first in Central America, will have capacity for 15,000 passengers per hour each way in its initial phase, and is estimated to increase to 40,000 each way by 2035.
The line will be automated, driverless, with detection and tracking systems for trains at intervals of 90 seconds and 75 seconds.

The stations on Panama Metro Line 1 will be two termini (one definitive, the other provisional), three will offer transfers to other modes of transport and future Metro lines, while six intermediate stations will have platforms of up to 93m in length.