Mexico City's gold metro line opens
8 November 2012Mexico City metro Line 12, the Gold Line, opened on 30 October 2012, it was announced recently. The 15.5 mile (25km), 20 station subway line will add an estimated 380,000 daily passengers to the system.
The USD 1.8bn subway line is the longest in the system and is expected to reduce commute times from 150 minutes to 78 minutes. Traffic congestion will also be reduced as 860 buses are taken off the streets and more people ride the subway. The new line gives residents faster access to and from the Tlahuác in the southeast, an area of the city not previously served by the metro, and offers connections to four other metro lines.
The Gold Line has been opened five years after having been announced. Excavation finished in March 2012 and was completed by a 10.2m Robbins EPBM. The contractor was a JV of ICA, Carso and Alstom. The metro line received some controvery with the original plans, which led to several changes. Among these was the cancelation of 3 stations: Ganaderos, Vía Láctea, and Del Paso / Axomulco. The cancelation of these stations means that the distance between stations on the Ermita to Pueblo Culhuacán section of the line is much longer than the average for the rest of the line.
