In Santiago, EFE plans to upgrade a 61km freight line to the southwestern dormitory towns of Peñaflor, Talagante and Melipilla for commuter rail operation. The $US 600m project involves track doubling, electrification and the acquisition of 19 emus.
Known as "Melitren," the project was originally put out to tender in 2002, but no offers were received. In addition, Santiago Metro opposed the scheme because it did not have capacity on Line 1 to handle the extra passengers transferring to the metro from the new service. Both problems have since been resolved, with EFE planning to operate the commuter service itself while the metro is building Line 6 which will also connect with the new suburban line.
In Concepción the 11.5km line to Lomas Coloradas will be extended 17km further south to Coronel over an existing freight line, which will be electrified. The $US 76m scheme should be completed by 2015.
Sudies are underway to extend the 43km Valparaíso Regional Metro by 25km from Limache via Quillota to La Calera. This would involve re-electrifying a sparsely-used freight-only section of the line to Santiago, and the purchase of 10 trains to supplement the fleet of 27 Alstom Xtrapolis emus.
In 2012, commuter rail traffic in Chile rose by 10% to 934 million passenger-km and traffic has now reached almost 30% of the historical maxima attained some 40 years ago, but on a much smaller network.
