Santiago Metro Line 9 will be a new line that will be part of the Santiago Metro and will have an approximate length of 17 kilometers (11 mi), connecting the communes of Santiago in the center and Puente Alto in the south of the Chilean capital.
A Metro line along the axis of Santa Rosa Avenue was originally proposed by architect Juan Parrochia when proposing a Metro master plan in 1968. The so-called Line 12 would have run along this avenue by the year 2040.[2]
In 2006, the Interministerial Secretary of Transportation Planning (SECTRA) suggested a similar metro line along the Santa Rosa, which was eventually postponed due to the 2007 public transport crisis (Transantiago crisis).
In 2013, the Santiago Transportation Master Plan 2025 considered alternatives for a mass transit system along Santa Rosa Avenue, incudling a tram and a light rail.[3] Claudia Pizarro, then-mayor of La Pintana, one of the poorest communes in the Greater Santiago and one of the few without a Metro connection at the time, advocated for the construction of a line extending into their territory.[4]
The construction of Line 9 was finally announced in June 2018 by President Sebastián Piñera, along with the construction of Line 8. In the announcement, the line was originally expected to have a length of approximately 17 kilometers and feature 12 stations.[5]
Due to the 2019 October protests in Santiago that affected the Santiago Metro, the company declared void the biddings for lines 8 and 9 in March 2020.[6] This is largely due to the fact that the company allocated the resources in repair the damage caused by the multiple incendiary attacks suffered by various stations in the social crisis.
Line 9 is expected to be inaugurated in phases: the first section between Bio-Bío and Plaza La Pintana stations is set to open in 2030, while the section from Bío-Bío to Cal y Canto would start its operation in 2032. Finally, the inauguration year of the section between Santa Rosa and Plaza de Puente Alto has been set for 2033.[1]
^Comisión Metropolitana de Tránsito Rápido de Santiago (1968). Estudio del sistema de transporte metropolitano de Santiago de Chile (in Spanish). Chile: Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes.