The trains for Panama’s first metro subway line will be begin arriving in May and testing will begin in October and November with a planned operational date of February 2014.
If the plan runs on time the city will see not only a new subway but a reduction in traffic snarl as construction sites disappear.
The news was delivered on Saturday March 16, by Roberto Roy, general secretary of the Panama Metro Secretariat and Minister for Canal Affairs at a ceremony marking the completion of the excavation of the underground section of Line 1 at the El Carmen subway station by the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) “Marta.”
President Ricardo Martinelli and the First Lady, Marta Linares de Martinelli attended the ceremony which came at a time when the president has had to issue an apology to public transit users for chaos in the Metro Bus service following the withdrawal of the diablos rojos on Friday, Mar 15.
Thousands of passengers were without adequate service and, as passengers milled around boarding centers there were confrontations with police.
Roy said that now they just need to install a total of 80 “U” beams for the aerial section of the lline.. "Then what follows is the electromechanical installation work."
