Biotren - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The similar system for Metro of Concepción or Biotren is basic at grade urban commuter rail system that covers a big part of the city of Concepción

Concepción, Chile

Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...

, capital of the region of Bío-Bío

Bío-Bío Region

The VIII Biobío Region , one of the fifteen first-order administrative divisions in Chile, comprises four provinces: Arauco, Biobio, Concepción, and Ñuble.The capital of the Region is Concepción...

, also known as Gran Concepción (Greater Concepción) or Concepción Metropolitan Area, both synonyms of "city" according to the urbanistic standards and laws of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, of which this city is the second biggest, most populous and important of the country. Biotren connects the boroughs or comunas of Concepción Centro (downtown borough), Talcahuano

Talcahuano

Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...

, Hualpén

Hualpén

Hualpén is a Chilean city and commune belonging to Concepción Province and the Biobío Region. It forms part of the conurbation of Greater Concepción. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:...

, San Pedro de la Paz

San Pedro de la Paz

San Pedro de la Paz is a Chilean city and commune located in the Concepción Province, Biobío Region. It has some 80,447 inhabitants according to the 2002 national census. In 2005, the Pedro Aguirre Cerda avenue, the main avenue in the city, was completed. Most of the inhabitants of this comuna...

, Chiguayante

Chiguayante

Chiguayante is a Chilean city and commune in Concepción Province, Biobío Region. It is part of Greater Concepción.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Chiguayante spans an area of and has 81,302 inhabitants . Of these, 81,238 lived in urban areas and 64...

and Hualqui

Hualqui

Hualqui is a Chilean city and commune in the Concepción Province, Biobio Region. It is also part of the Greater Concepcion conurbation, although it maintains a rural profile. It had a population of 18,768 inhabitants according to the 2002 census....

. The system is managed by Ferrocarriles Suburbanos de Concepción S.A. (Fesub), which name comes from the former metrorail system of the city and is a subsidiary of Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado

Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado

Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado is the national railway of Chile.The track gauge is Indian gauge in the south and metre gauge in the north.-History:...

(EFE), Chilean State Railways. Biotren is part of the Plan and Authority of Integrated Transit of Concepción, Biovías.

The system was partially inaugurated (Marcha Blanca) on November 24, 2005 in a ceremony that counted with the presence of the President of the Republic in that time, Ricardo Lagos

Ricardo Lagos

Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar is a lawyer, economist and social democrat politician, who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. He won the 1999-2000 presidential election by a narrow margin in a runoff over Independent Democrat Union candidate Joaquín Lavín...

History

It began to fully operate in 2006 because during the year 2005 the railroad lines where being enhanced for the new system. The AEL and AES

AES Railcar

The AES is an electric passenger railcar that has been in use in Chile since 1977, originally with Ferrocarril del Norte, and later for MERVAL, the Valparaiso region metro system.- History :...

trains that the former system used were replaced by UT-440 MC(Modelo Concepcion) units that were specially enhanced for the city of Valencia

Valencia (city in Spain)

Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

by Renfe

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

Architecture

Biotren stations or Bio Stations have a totally renewed architecture compared to the former system. The platforms have roofs and access for the handicapped. The fare is paid at the entrance and exit of the stations using a prepayment card called Biovías, with a deferred payment system according to the distance travelled. The card's recharge can be made in any station.

Rolling stock

The Empresa de Los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) invested a total of US $16.800.000 for the trains used in the system.
The current fleet is composed by 8 trains UT-440 Modelo Concepción of 3 wagons each, bought from the Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (Spain State Railways, RENFE). The trains are painted orange and have 321 seats (20 folding seats) and a capacity of 590 passengers.

Lines

- Line 1: It crosses all Concepción from North to South, from "Mercado" Terminus Station (Port of Talcahuano) to "Hualqui" Terminus Station (Hualqui).

Bio Stations:

Mercado
El Arenal
Hospital Higueras
Los Cóndores
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Lorenzo Arenas
Concepción
Chiguayante
Pedro Medina
Manquimávida
Leonera
Hualqui

- Line 2: It crosses the Bío-Bío river on the enhanced Puente Ferroviario (Railroad Bridge) Bío-Bío, the longest of its kind in Chile. The line starts, from downtown to west side, in the "Concepción" Exchange (or Intermodal) Station (Civic District, Concepción Centro) and ends in the "Lomas Coloradas" Terminus Station (Lomas Coloradas, San Pedro De La Paz).

Bio Stations:

Concepción
Juan Pablo II
Diagonal Bío-Bío
Costa Mar
Lomas Coloradas

The stations in black are Exchange (or Intermodal) Bio Stations.

Exchange System

The Exchange or Intermodal Bio Stations have personal bicycles parking lockers for those who arrive by cyclepaths (except for El Arenal) to take the Biotren and synchronization with combination buses called Biobuses.

External links

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