Alstom to renovate equipment allowing Metro de Santiago trains to change tracks

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Alstom has been awarded a contract worth approximately 4.5 million by Metro de Santiago to renew its wayside electromechanical point machines, which allow trains to change from one track to another and make returns at the end of each section. The implementation of the new point machines will be carried out on Lines 1, 2 and 5 of the metropolitan train.

A total of 87 machines will be installed, 60 of them on the tracks in commercial service and another 27 in the Neptuno, Lo Ovalle and San Eugenio workshops. The new machines covered by the contract will be brought directly from Alstoms plant located in Bologna, Italy, and it is expected that all the equipment will be installed definitively by 2020.

Current point machines were originally manufactured by Alstom and have been in operation since the construction of Metro de Santiago lines. Their replacement will strengthen metro lines and reduce the possibility of failures in the system.

Each one of the new equipment will be installed in four-hour periods during night shifts, in order to safeguard the system and avoid interrupting the daily operation of the transport service.

The contract awarded to Alstom has a total completion period of 40 months.

"With this new contract, Alstom confirms its leadership in the signalling sector and its maintenance, where we have the best technical skills and proven quality. The renovation of this equipment contributes to optimize the train system operation, in accordance with Metro de Santiago requirements, said Denis Girault, Managing Director of Alstom in Chile.

Alstom has been present in Chile for more than 50 years, providing a wide range of solutions in the railway transport market, ranging from trains and underground cars to maintenance services, modernization, infrastructure and signalling technologies. Alstom is present in the country's main railway companies, such as Metro de Santiago, Metro Valparaíso and in the new service Alameda-Nos.