The Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, officially started this Wednesday (09.18.2024) the construction and coating work of the first underwater transport tunnel that will pass under the Panama Canal, a major engineering work intended for Metro Line 3.
“Put in motion the tunneling machine that will build the tunnel of Line 3 of the Panama Metro, which today we begin with a route and with a firm step,” Mulino ordered the person in charge of the machinery, also replicating the motto of his Government.
Mulino took the opportunity to congratulate the workers who will be in the tunnel boring machine for 22 months and 65 meters below the level of the seabed of the Panama Canal.
“It is a great pleasure to see a joint workforce, but mostly Panamanian,” he said.
The project, which has a 63% advance, whose key section will be the excavation under the seabed of the interoceanic route, will connect the province of West Panama with the province of Panama, connecting with Metro Line 1 at Albrook station.
‘Panama’, tunneller with a German soul
The ‘Panama’ tunnel boring machine will be the key tool to carry out this mega-work that will improve the transport system in the Central American country.
The excavator, which carries components manufactured in Germany, has an external diameter of 13.5 meters and a length of 93 meters, and will excavate and coat 4.5 kilometers, crossing below the navigation channel of the Panama Canal.
‘Panama’ is expected to have a performance of 200 linear meters per month, as the general director of the Panama Metro, engineer César Pinzón, told the media on Wednesday.
The construction of Metro Line 3, including the underwater tunnel, is designed to offer more accessible and efficient public transport to the inhabitants of West Panama.
Metro Line 3, which has a route of 24.5 kilometers from Albrook, in the capital, will transport approximately 160,000 to 200,000 passengers daily and in its first phase will have 12 stations located in strategic sites, according to figures from the Panama Metro Secretariat.
This transport system to the West will have 26 trains of six wagons, with a total capacity of one thousand passengers, of which 250 can be seated. The maximum speed will be 80 kilometers per hour.