The Ministry of Transport says the vehicles, which will increase the capacity of the line by 20%, will be manufactured in China and will feature air conditioning and automatic braking, among other improvements.

The 237km Roca Line suburban network encompasses eight branches and carries more than 600,000 passengers a day.

The funding also includes spare parts, software and personnel training as well as the 294 cars in the Roca fleet acquired in 2013, including expanded capacity, equipment modernisation, lower maintenance costs, improved passenger information screens and better lighting.

“We are making very important investments in the entire railway system, with new viaducts, electrification, automatic braking for trains, renewal of track and communication and signalling systems,” says minister of transport, Mr Guillermo Dietrich. “The new rolling stock is one more part of the change we are taking forward in the metropolitan trains.”

The new vehicles will extend the existing trains from seven to eight cars, as well as completely replacing 20 trains that are more than 30 years old.

Following the investment, services will operate with 62 eight-car trains with air conditioning, intelligent closing doors, pneumatic suspension, and energy saving features.