Construction has started on the San Germán underground station in Medellín, a key milestone for the 13.3 km Metro de la 80 light rail project, according to railwaygazette.com.

The station is being built in a 500 m long tunnelled section in western Medellín. Metro de Medellín says it will be the first underground rail station in Colombia. The city’s existing metro runs on elevated and street-level alignments, while Bogotá’s under-construction metro will be wholly elevated.

Work on Metro de la 80, also known as Ecociudad Line E or the Pink Line, began in April 2023 with a groundbreaking ceremony. Civil works started in piecemeal fashion in 2024.

The medium-capacity light rail line will run primarily along Avenida 80, the main north-south road corridor in the west of the city, from Caribe metro station in the north to Aguacatala metro station in the south. It will serve 17 stops.

The 3.5 billion peso project is being financed 70:30 by the central government and the city authority. Opening is planned for 2028.

The project is being built by the Metro de la 80 consortium, which comprises main suppliers CRRC (rolling stock) and Mota-Engil (civil works), alongside Ineo Urban Transportation Solutions (telematics) and Siemens Mobility (power supplies and signalling).

‘This project prevents the emission of 131,000 tonnes of CO₂. It is environmentally friendly and, of course, it brings us together as a society,’ said Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga during the station’s groundbreaking ceremony on June 3.