President Danilo Medina arrived on time for the inaugural run of the first part of the second line of the Santo Domingo Metro around 10 this morning, Monday 1 April, as reported in Diario Libre.
The President boarded the first line at the Centro de los Heroes for travel up Maximo Gomez Avenue to switch to the second line at the Colonel Rafael Tomas Fernandez Dominguez Station on San Martin Avenue. From there, Medina continued on Metro 2 on to the Eduardo Brito Station (the 17 Bridge). On the return he went all the way to the Maria Montez Station on Gregorio Luperon Avenue, where he declared the line open for business, as reported in Diario Libre.
Vice President Margarita Cedeno, Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo and the Metro Office (Opret) director, Diandino Pena accompanied President Medina on the inaugural run. President Medina congratulated his predecessor, Leonel Fernandez for the initiative of building the Metro.
Travel on the second line of the metro will be free all this week, until Friday, 5 April.
The fare will be RD$20, unchanged since Metro 1 opened in 2009.
This represents an entry into public service, mainly for residents of the National District, and Santo Domingo East and West, of a train system that will go from Francisco del Rosario Sanchez, at the head of the bridge of the same name, all the way to Luperon Avenue along John F. Kennedy Avenue. In total, fifteen trains will cover the 12.8 kilometers.
The Transport Reorganization Office (Opret), which is responsible for the construction and management of the Santo Domingo Metro system, projects that Line 2 will transport 120,000 passengers a day in the first year of operation, the same as Line 1, now in its fourth year. They add that the total number of Metro system users is expected to reach 250,000 a day.
Line 2 was built at a cost of US$850 million, some RD$34.1 billion at the current rate of RD$41.11, during a 40-month construction period. The initial excavations started in December 2010, during the Leonel Fernandez administration (2008-2012), when 95% of the construction took place.
During the first four years of operation of Line 1 of the Santo Domingo Metro they have carried about 100 million passengers with a constant yearly growth. In 2009, there were 16.9 million riders, in 2010 there were 23.6 million, a 42% increase, in 2011 there were 28.8 million, which was 22% greater than the previous year, and in 2012 there were 30.9 million, another 7% increase, according to Opret stats. At the same time, from 1 to 24 January 2013 they carried 1.7 million passengers.
Once completed, the 22 km second line will reach Los Alcarrizos on its northwestern side and San Luis on the eastern side, but date for the continuing has not been announced.
The stations on Line 1 are:
Est. Mama Tingo n Ave. Charles de Gaulle
Est. Gregorio Gilbert Suero – La Paz
Est. Gregorio Luperon – Buena Vista
Est. Jose Francisco Pena Gomez – Los Guaricanos
Est. Las Hermanas Mirabal – Mirador Norte
Est. Maximo Gomez – La Isabela
Est. Los Tainos – Ave. Ovando
Est. Pedro Livio Cedeno – Cementerio Nacional
Est. Pena Batlle – Ave. Pena Batlle
Est. Centro Olimpico Juan Pablo Duarte – Ave. Kennedy
Est. Juan Bosch – Ave. 27 de Febrero
Est. Casandra Damiron – Ave. Maximo Gomez
Est. Joaquin Balaguer – Ave. Maximo Gomez
Est. Amin Abel – UASD
Est. Francisco Caamano Deno – Ave. Lincoln
Est. La Feria – Centro de Los Heroes
The stations on Line 2 are:
Est. Coronel Rafael Tomas Fernandez – Ave. Leopoldo Navarro
Est. Eduardo Brito – Ave. Francisco del Rosario Sanchez
Est. Francisco G. Billini – Ave. Dr. Defillo
Est. Freddy Beras Goico – Ave. Lope de Vega
Est. Horacio Vasquez – Ave. Josefa Brea
Est. Juan Pablo Duarte – Ave. Maximo Gomez
Est. Juan Ulises Garcia Ave. Ortega y Gasset
Est. Manuel de Jesus Abreu Galvan – Ave. Jose M. Lopez
Est. Maria Montez – Ave. Gregorio Luperon
Est. Mauricio Baez – Esc. Rep. Dom.
Est. Pedro F. Bono – Ave. Nunez de Caceres
Est. Pedro Mir – Ave. Abraham Lincoln
Est. Ramon (Mon) Caceres- Ave. Duarte
Est. Ulises F. Espaillat – Ave. Winston Churchill
www.diariolibre.com/sociedad/2013/04/01/i377360_segunda-linea-del-metro-santo-domingo-inicia-hoy-sus-operaciones.html
http://opret.gob.do/Linea1.aspx
http://opret.gob.do/Linea2.aspx