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With 2 million inhabitants Medellín is Colombia's second largest city (2.9 mill in metropolitan area). The city stretches out in a north-south direction along the Aburrá Valley. Construction of the elevated metro system began in 1985.

Line A is 23.2 km and runs along the Aburrá Valley from Bello in the north to Itagüí in the south. 7 of the 19 stations are on a viaduct through the city centre, the rest is at grade. The first part between Niquía to Poblado opened in November 1995, the line reached Itagüí in September 1996. Platform length on this line is 142 m although currently only 3-car-trains are used to increase frequencies. A trip on the entire line takes 36 minutes.

Line B runs 5.6 km through the city of Medellín from west to east connecting with line A at San Antonio right in the city centre. This line opened on 28 February 1996. Platform length is 72 m, there are 6 elevated stations and one at grade. A journey along the whole line takes 11 minutes.

A few trains operate during morning and evening rush hours directly from Niquía to San Javier via a link track which was built between Caribe on Line A and Suramericana on Line B.

Metrocable
Lines K and J are cable car systems which link Acevedo and San Javier metro stations to the hilly neighbourhoods.

30 Nov 1995 - Line A Niquía - Poblado (16 km)
28 Feb 1996 - Line B San Antonio - San Javier (9 km, incl. connecting line)
30 Sept 1996 - Line A Poblado - Itagüí (6 km)

30 July 2004 - Line K (Cablecar)
03 Mar 2008 - Line J (Cablecar)

 Projects

An extension of Line A is being built towards the north to Hatillo (21 km). Trains will use the existing rail tracks to Cisneros. The extension will serve some 500,000 people in the towns of Bello, Copacabana, Girardota and Barbosa.

The Medellín Metro operates from 5.00h to 23.00h on workdays and from 7.00h to 22.00h on Sundays and holidays. Trains run every 3 minutes in peak hours and every 10 minutes the rest of the day.

- FARES (2008)

Sencillo (Single) - $1,400
Par (Double)- $2,550

Smartcard Cívica introduced in 2008, offering certain discounts.

Metro de Medellín - Official Site

Metro de Medellín on Wikipedia.es

Siemens Turnkey Project Description

El Metro de Medellín (El Sitio Paisa, with many fotos)

El Metro de Medellín - Historia de una perfecta planificación para esquilmar al país