Medellín Metro

Train of Line B at Cisneros Station

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 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, Cali 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, 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, Medellín 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, Mexico City or Rio de Janeiro 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 Medellín 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,[2][4] 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. Previously, workers from Bello spent two hours by bus travelling to Envigado. With the Metro, travel times between those two cities was shortened to just 30 minutes.

Medellín Metro near Berrío Park station

The Medellín Metro currently comprises two lines: Line A, which is 25.8 kilometres (16.0 mi) long and serves 21 stations, and Line B, which is 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) 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).[2][5]

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),[1][2] Line K with 3 stations (plus one transfer station with Line L),[2][5] 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) and Line M with two stations (plus one transfer station with Line T-A).[5]

As of 2019, there are 27 Metro stations, 15 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:

Name	Stations	Date of opening/Start of commercial service	Fleet	Commercial speed	Capacity (per vehicle)	Capacity (passengers/time-direction)	Time of travel for one journey	Top frequency (rush hour)
Metro services
Line A North to South 25.8 km (16.0 mi)[2] 21 stations[5]	Niquía Bello Madera Acevedo Tricentenario Caribe University Hospital Prado Berrío Park San Antonio Alpujarra Exposiciones Industriales Poblado Aguacatala Ayurá Envigado Itagüí Sabaneta La Estrella	30 November 1995	80 three-car trains; for a total of 240 cars	40 km/h (25 mph); max. speed 80 km/h (50 mph)	300 users per car	41,480	42 minutes	3 minutes
Line B Center to West 5.5 km (3.4 mi)[2] 7 stations[5]	San Antonio Cisneros Suramericana Estadio Floresta Santa Lucía San Javier	29 February 1996				16,231	10.5 minutes	3:50 minutes
Metrocable services
Line K North to Northeast 2.07 km (1.29 mi)[2] 4 stations[5]	Acevedo Andalucía Popular Santo Domingo Savio	7 August 2004	93 gondolas	18 km/h (11 mph)	8 users sitting, 2 standing; for a total of 10 users per gondola	3,000	9 minutes	0:12 minutes
Line J West to North 2.7 km (1.7 mi)[2] 4 stations[5]	San Javier Juan XXIII Vallejuelos La Aurora	3 March 2008	119 gondolas				12 minutes
Line L Northeast to far Northeast 4.8 km (3.0 mi)[2] 2 stations[5]	Santo Domingo Savio Arví	9 February 2010	55 gondolas			1,200	15 minutes	0:14 minutes
Line H East to far Northeast 1.4 km (0.87 mi)[2] 3 stations[5]	Oriente Las Torres Villa Sierra	17 December 2016	44 gondolas			1,800	5 minutes	0:13 minutes
Line M East to Northeast 1.05 km (0.65 mi)[2] 3 stations[5]	Miraflores El Pinal Trece de Noviembre	28 February 2019	49 gondolas			2,500	4 minutes	0:09 minutes
Line P West to Northwest 2.7 km (1.7 mi)[2] 4 stations[5]	Acevedo SENA Doce de Octubre El Progreso	Under construction	138 gondolas (expected)	19 km/h (12 mph) (expected)	10 users sitting, 2 standing; for a total of 12 users per gondola (expected)	40,000 (expected)	10 minutes (expected)	0:11 minutes (expected)
BRT services
Line 1 West to Northeast 12.5 km (7.8 mi)[2] 20 stations[5]	U. de M. Los Alpes La Palma Parque Belén Rosales Fátima Nutibara Industriales Plaza Mayor Cisneros Minorista Chagualo U. de A. Hospital Palos Verdes Gardel Manrique Las Esmeraldas Berlín Parque Aranjuez	22 December 2011	30 gas working buses, 1 fully electric bus; for a total of 31 articulated buses	16 km/h (9.9 mph); max. speed 60 km/h (37 mph)	154 users per bus	3,270	45 minutes	2:45 minutes
Line 3 Southwest/Southeast	South Corridor	Under development
Feeding bus services
Line 2 West to Northeast 13.5 km (8.4 mi)[2] 15 stations + 8 stops[5]	U. de M. (station) Los Alpes (station) La Palma (station) Parque Belén (station) Rosales (station) Fátima (station) Nutibara (station) Industriales (station) Barrio Colombia San Diego Barrio Colón San José La Playa Catedral Metropolitana Palos Verdes (station) Gardel (station) Manrique (station) Las Esmeraldas (station) Berlín (station) Parque Aranjuez (station)	22 April 2013	47 gas feeding buses	13 km/h (8.1 mph); max. speed 60 km/h (37 mph)	90 users per bus	1,417	52 minutes	4:17 minutes
Tram services
Line T-A Center to East 4.2 km (2.6 mi)[2] 3 stations + 6 stops[5]	San Antonio (station) San José Pabellón del Agua Bicentenario Buenos Aires Miraflores (station) Loyola Alejandro Echavarría Oriente (station)	31 March 2016	12 tramway vehicles	19 km/h (12 mph); max. speed 70 km/h (43 mph)	300 users per ?	3,807	19 minutes	4:44 minutes
Total
	79 stations (14 stops)	Oldest: 30 November 1995 Newest: 28 February 2019 under construction	240 cars 498 gondolas 31 articulated buses 47 feeding buses 12 tramway	Fastest: max. speed 80 km/h (50 mph) Slowest: 13 km/h (8.1 mph)	Most capacity: 300 users per car/tram Least capacity: 10 users per gondola	81,705	Fastest journey: 4 minutes Slowest journey: 52 minutes	Least wait time: 0:09 minutes Most wait time: 4:44 minutes

Metrocable

Line H of the Metrocable

On 7 August 2004,[4] 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.[6] This important addition integrated new additions to the city that since the 1960s that previously were not considered part of the "real city".

Line K (Metrocable) of the Metro de Medellín.

On 3 March 2008,[4] 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.[6] This new line benefits approximately 150,000 new users.

A new Metrocable line (line L) was inaugurated in 2009[4] with a transfer station at Santo Domingo Savio Station. This line continues further uphill to El Tambo[6] in Arví park near Guarne. 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.

Arturito at Berrío Park station.

Initially there were 42 three-car train sets from the manufacturer MAN, since 2009, 38 three-car train sets have been purchased from CAF and currently the system has 80 trains.[10][11]

• List of Latin American rail transit systems by ridership
• List of metro systems

Media related to Medellín Metro at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Civica – official webpage of the AFC of Metro de Medellín (in Spanish)
• Metro de Medellín at urbanrail.net