In 2015, Line 2 accounted for 18.8% of all trips made on the metro with a daily ridership of 325,400.[citation needed]
History
The first section on Line 2 opened to the public on March 31, 1978[1] running between Los Héroes and Franklin. Later the same year, in December, the next section opened running between Franklin and Lo Ovalle.
Plans for an extension southeast towards Rodrigo de Araya were postponed after a major earthquake in 1985; in fact, only two stations opened separately at the line's northern end in 1987 (Santa Ana and Puente Cal y Canto). Two decades later, with a change of plans, it was decided that Line 2 would continue northwards instead of southeast, owing to recent availability of Tunnel Boring Machines, and on September 8, 2004, two further stations opened to the north, Patronato and Cerro Blanco. These stations marked a new feat in Santiago and overall Chilean engineering by building under the Mapocho River and the Costanera Norte freeway. That year, the line was also extended to the south with the opening of El Parrón and La Cisterna.[citation needed]
On October 26, 2009, the express service began to run on Line 2, stopping at certain stations only at peak times, allowing for faster journeys.[citation needed]
On November 2, 2017, line 6 opened to the public, intersecting line 2 with line 6 at Franklin.[citation needed]
On July 30, 2019, the construction of a southward extension began, where 4 new stations will be added; the extension will be operational by 2023,[2] enabling the metro to serve El Bosque and San Bernando, specifically the El Pino hospital in the latter.[3]
In October 2019, a series of protests resulted in damage to the metro network. Line 2 was closed because of a fire in the mezzanine of Vespucio Norte on October 18, which resulted in moderate damage; a few other stations on Line 2 suffered minor damage. Service on the line was partly restored on October 25 with trains running express between La Cisterna and Zapadores. Full service was restored to Line 2 on November 11.[citation needed] The protests didn't affect the works on the southward extension to San Bernardo.[citation needed]
Communes served by Line 2
This line serves the following communes from North to South:
The skip-stop express service[4] works during peak hours and allows trains to stop at alternate stations, reducing the number of stops and the duration of journeys. The stations on the line are divided into “green route” stations, “red route” stations and “common” stations (Spanish: estación común), where all trains stop and allow passengers to switch between red and green routes. The express service works from Monday to Friday, between 6am - 9am and 6pm - 9pm.
