The Urgency and Impact of the Santiago Metro’s Arrival in Bajos de Mena

By Louis de Grange C.., Director of the School of Industrial Engineering UDP and former president of Metro

Bajos de Mena is a sector located to the west of the Puente Alto commune. It has about 125,000 inhabitants (larger than Curicó), with highly deficient social insecurity rates at the national level, with a shortage of basic services, equipment and minimum urban standards. To this we must add security conflicts with which their neighbors live daily.

For this reason, it is urgent that the Santiago Metro arrive in that sector. With this, not only will the commuting times of its inhabitants be reduced to less than half, but it will also allow them to access new opportunities for work, education, health, services, entertainment, etc., and new poles and economic developments will be developed. . In short, perhaps the most effective and fastest way to overcome poverty. When we talk about the presence of the State in places where it is most needed, the arrival of the Metro in Bajos de Mena is the best example of this..

In this context, the new layout of Line 9 of the Metro, which will connect La Pintana with Bajos de Mena, represents advantages and disadvantages. As advantages, we can mention the excellent standard of the new Metro lines, as well as the greater spatial coverage in the southeast area of ​​Santiago, which will allow the promotion of new housing developments with excellent connectivity near the Metro. As disadvantages, we can mention the longer time for the commissioning of the Metro in Bajos de Mena (approximately 2033), as well as a higher investment cost of US$ 500 million (over the alternative of extending Line 4 to Bajos de Mena). ). These additional 500 million dollars could have been used in other Metro extensions, such as Line 6 to Rinconada, or Line 3 to Villa La Reina, or Line 7 to Cerro 18, etc.

will always be a extraordinary news the expansion of Metro, and its arrival in new sectors is perhaps the most effective way to reduce gaps in multiple dimensions. That is why it is so important to reflect on the different projects that compete for scarce public resources.