Ayesa is set to expand its backlog in urban transport thanks to a new project involving the Santiago Metro in Chile

Ayesa is set to strengthen its position as a leading consulting firm in the rail industry thanks to a major new project. As such, the company has recently secured a contract as part of the extension of the Santiago Metro, in Chile, a 378.5-million-dollar project set to benefit just over 200,000 residents.

This will see Ayesa provide technical inspection services for the installation, testing and commissioning of the systems and equipment necessary for the extension of line 3. The line will be fully automated thanks to automatic train control (CBTC) and unmanned train operation (UTO) systems.

The duration of the contract is 26 months and its value is 3.2 million dollars. The new section of the line, which will be underground, will span 3.6 kilometres and link Quilicura to Plaza de Armas, in the centre of the city, in just 15 minutes (67% less than the current journey time). Three new stations (Ferrocarril, Lo Cruzat and Plaza Quilicura) will also be built.

As part of the contract, Ayesa will also inspect the CBTC, electrical, communications and centralised command systems, as well as the platform doors, ticket gates, self-service ticket machines, escalators, lifts, tracks, catenary and forced ventilation system.

Ayesa is ranked # 3 of all engineering firms in Latin America*, where it has helped build and modernise the region’s public transport networks over more than two decades. In terms of underground systems, examples of particularly noteworthy projects it has taken part in here include the first line of the Quito Metro, lines 1, 2 and 4 of the Lima Metro and lines 1 and 2 of the Panama Metro. Furthermore, it is currently providing supervision services for the first line of the Bogotá Metro, the construction and operating of which will require 3,500 million dollars.

This contract involving the Santiago Metro in Chile means Ayesa’s Engineering area will now establish a permanent presence in the country, where the company already has an office through which it provides technology consulting services.

‘This civil engineering project in Chile is particularly strategic for us, as it represents a major step forward in achieving the goals laid out in our internationalisation plan, which include the Engineering area expanding into new markets’, notes Rosalío Alonso, Managing Director of the Engineering Area at Ayesa.

*ENR:2022| Top 3 Engineering Design Firms (Latin America)