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The Santo Domingo Metro () is a
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...
system in
Greater Santo Domingo Greater Santo Domingo () is a term commonly used referring to the metropolitan area of Santo DomingoDominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
, it is the most extensive metro system in the insular
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
and
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
n region by length and number of stations. It began operation on January 30, 2009. The Metro is a major part of the "National Master Plan" to improve transportation in Greater Santo Domingo and the rest of the nation. The first line was planned to relieve traffic congestion on the
Máximo Gómez Máximo Gómez y Báez (November 18, 1836 – June 17, 1905) was a general of Dominican origin in the Cuban Wars of Independence (1868-78 and 1895–98). He was known for his controversial Scorched earth tactics, which entailed dynamiting pa ...
and Hermanas Mirabal Avenue thoroughfares, which connect Santo Domingo. The second line, which opened in April 2013, is meant to relieve the congestion along the Duarte-Kennedy-Centenario Corridor in the city from west to east. The current length of the Metro, with the sections of the two lines open as of August 2013, is . Before the second line's opening, 30,856,515 passengers had ridden the Santo Domingo Metro in 2012. With both lines opened, ridership increased to 61,270,054 passengers in 2014 and reached 104,003,341 inbetween May 2022 and May 2023. Four more lines were planned to be constructed, for a total of six lines, but just two remained to be implemented in the near future.


Overview

The first line was unofficially inaugurated on February 27, 2008. On December 22, 2008, non-commercial operation of the metro system began and provided free service to the public during the Christmas holiday season. The metro was closed on January 6, 2009, for final touches before it opened for commercial use on January 30, 2009. Shortly after the inauguration of Line 1, presidential elections took place in the Dominican Republic. President Leonel Fernández stayed in power and promised to continue the expansion of the Metro across the
Greater Santo Domingo Greater Santo Domingo () is a term commonly used referring to the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo An approval for an expansion of the second line was issued January 2014, with construction beginning on April 1, 2014.


Approval and construction


Line 1

President
Leonel Fernández proposed and started the construction of the first subway system in the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
and the second in the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. The actual first phase of the overall "Master Plan" for the Metro took place once Fernandez had proposed the construction of the Juan Bosch Bridge. The bridge was built with support for two heavy rail lines on the deck that until the third line of the system gets built are being used for regular vehicle traffic. This phase took place under Fernandez's first administration and with very little public knowledge of the Master Plan. The project was prompted by the need to reduce the continually-rising heavy road traffic congestion; the current disorganized and inefficient public transportation system; and air pollution, which severely affects the residents' productive time and the health. The system will complement other forms of public transportation such as OMSA (Metropolitan Office of Buses Services) buses, with the government estimating that around 100 feeder buses will be in service. The first line of the
mass-transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
system has sixteen stations: six elevated, ten underground. It has a total route length of and connects Villa Mella in Santo Domingo Norte with La Feria in Santo Domingo. That is expected to bring relief to the city's current public transport system. Daily ridership is expected to be about 200,000 passengers once other lines or at least the feeder bus system is integrated. The first line opened for commercial service on January 30, 2009. On September 23, 2007, President Fernández while on a trip to the East Coast of the United States announced that stations on the Santo Domingo Metro were not to be named by the streets that they intercepted but instead named to honor important historical people of the Dominican Republic. On February 25, 2008, during the final testing before the official inauguration of the line by President Fernández, Ing. Diandino Peña announced the official names for the stations.


Line 2

In the presidential elections that took place on May 16, 2008, President Fernández was re-elected for his second consecutive term. However, long before his re-election, companies that specialize in studying land composition had begun drilling holes specifically around the area at which Line 2 (along Avenida John F. Kennedy, a major throughway in the city that turns into Duarte Highway, connecting the city with Santiago) was being built. Line 2 runs east–west under Avenida John F. Kennedy from the westernmost metropolitan stretch of the city to the eastern part of the city and intersect Line 1 in the heart of the city. The line was originally planned to be underground in its entire course. Line 2 will cost about three times more than Line 1 to complete because of its length and rising prices. The economic burden that it would place on the national budget caused the decision, which was officially announced in September 2009, to construct it in two phases. The first phase was planned to be from
Los Alcarrizos Los Alcarrizos is a Municipalities of the Dominican Republic, municipality (''municipio'') of the Santo Domingo Province, Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there are the following municipal districts (''distr ...
to Puente de la 17, where it crosses the first line. A second phase was planned to complete the line from Puente de la 17 to San Isidro, in the eastern portion of
Santo Domingo Este Santo Domingo Este is a municipality and the provincial capital of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. It has one municipal district (''distrito municipal''), San Luis. Santo Domingo Este is across the Ozama River which divides ...
. Later, the project has been reduced to ensure the conclusion and operation of a second line by the end of the 2008-2012 presidential term and line 2 was starting to operate from station María Montez at Avenida Gregorio Luperón to the station Eduardo Brito before Puente de la 17, at Avenida Francisco del Rosario Sánchez. Line 2 opened on April 1, 2013. An approval for an eastern expansion of the second line from Eduardo Brito to Concepción Bona was issued January 2014, and construction began on April 1, 2014. The extension was completed and was officially opened on August 8, 2018. The western extension from Avenida Luperon to Los Alcarrizos is under construction since 2022 and should be opened end of 2025. It will be mainly elevated to reduce costs and shorting implementing time.


Rolling stock

The French firm
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
supplied a total of 19
Alstom Metropolis The Alstom Metropolis is a family of electric multiple units designed and produced by the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. It is designed for high capacity rapid transit or metro rail infrastructure systems. Trains can be run in various ...
9000 three-car trainsets (57 cars) from its factories in Belgium, France and Spain in a contract worth 92.5 million euros. The cars are almost identical to the 9000 series on the
Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...
except for the livery. In January 2011, an order was announced for a further 15 Alstom trainsets for Line 2, but in the end, the order was changed in 2015 to only 6 trainsets, which have been delivered in 2018/2019. In August 2021, another order of 24 more three-car trainsets has been signed between OPRET and Alstom, delivery started in July 2023. In January 2023, an order was announced for the supply of a further 10 three-car
Alstom Metropolis The Alstom Metropolis is a family of electric multiple units designed and produced by the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. It is designed for high capacity rapid transit or metro rail infrastructure systems. Trains can be run in various ...
trainsets. Once delivered, the total number of trainsets in the fleet will be brought to 64. The first train was shipped from Barcelona in December 2007 and arrived on January 3, 2008. The
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
units have air-conditioning, CCTV, and passenger information and can accommodate 617 passengers per trainset. The trains initially consist of three cars, but all stations are being built to accommodate six-car trains in anticipation of expected future ridership demand. The first trains with six carriages (through double traction of three-car units) are expected to start operating in July 2025 and will be gradually integrated into the system. Unlike many rapid transit systems, Santo Domingo Metro trains do not collect power from a
third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...
, as trainsets collect their power from an
overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...
system.


Station locations


Boleto Viajero

The Boleto Viajero is a reloadable
contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...
used for electronic transit fare payment by riders of the Santo Domingo Metro. The card can be acquired in a Santo Domingo Metro station for DOP$60 with a minimum reload of 5 rides (DOP$100). It is offered as an alternative to the single-use cardboard cards. Even though the cardboard cards have a lower initial cost (DOP$15), they cannot be reloaded and must be discarded after their use. Although OPRET lists price amounts against number of rides (''viajes''), the card records its balance in DOP. A bonus is also provided for 10 or 20 ride reloads. As identification is not required to purchase the card, and Boleto Viajero cards cannot be registered. OPRET does not refund users in the event of loss or damage. The card must be reloaded in person at a ticket vending booth, as OPRET does not offer Internet or phone-based top-up services. Automatic top-ups are also not available. The Boleto Viajero cards are based on NXP MIFARE Classic chips and can be read by any
ISO/IEC 14443 ISO/IEC 14443 ''Identification cards – Contactless integrated circuit cards – Proximity cards'' is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it. The ...
Type A reader. The single-use cardboard cards as of 2022 use NXP MIFARE Ultralight. However, only the card's manufacturer information (sector 0) is readable by the general public, as all of the remaining blocks are encrypted by using an unknown key.


Network map


See also

* Santiago Light Rail (''planned'') * Rail transport in the Dominican Republic *
List of Latin American rail transit systems by ridership The following is a list of all urban rail transit systems in Latin America, ranked by passenger ridership. These kinds of systems are most commonly known as ''metro'' (or ''subway'' in English), but may also be known as ''subte'', ''tren'', or ''tr ...
*
List of metro systems This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, undergrounds, tubes, mass rapid transit (MRT), metrô or U-Bahn. 204 cities in 65 cou ...


References


External links


Mashup Subway of Santo Domingo

Android App of the Subway of Santo Domingo

OPRET – official site

Metro de Santo Domingo
{{Authority control 2008 establishments in the Dominican Republic Railway lines opened in 2008 Transport in Santo Domingo