Early projections and construction of Line 1 The idea of constructing an underground railway network in Santiago dates back to 1944 when efforts to improve the chaotic transport system were initiated due to the rapid population growth the city had been experiencing since the early 1930s. However, concrete plans began to materialize in the 1960s when
Juan Parrochia was appointed as Chief Architect of the Intercommunal Plan of Santiago and began working on an urban master plan featuring a Metro network. Consequently, the government issued an international tender for the development of an urban transport system. On 24 October 1968, the government of
Eduardo Frei Montalva approved the draft submitted by the Franco-Chilean consortium BCEOM SOFRETU CADE, in which the construction of five lines with an extension of approximately by 1990 was proposed. On 29 May 1969, works finally began for the construction of the first line, which would link the Civil District and the area of Barrancas (current-day
Lo Prado). On 15 September 1975, the first line of the metro was opened by
Augusto Pinochet during the military dictatorship. Line 1, during its opening stage, was mostly underground from San Pablo to La Moneda, running below the
Alameda. In 1977, the line was extended towards Providencia and by 1980, the line reached as far as
Escuela Militar in
Las Condes. In March 1978, Line 2 was opened. Its initial section ran at ground level from
Los Héroes to
Franklin. By December, the second segment of the line was opened, running underground towards the south along the Gran Avenida up to
Lo Ovalle.
Line 2 and 3 extensions mezzanine level in 2023 On May 26, 2016, Metro announced the extension of Lines 2 and 3, adding 8.9 kilometers and 7 new stations to the Metro network. Both extensions were expected to begin operations during the second half of 2021. The extension of Line 2 to the south would add 5.1 kilometers and 4 new stations connecting the current terminal station in La Cisterna with San Bernardo locality. The new terminal station would be located next to a hospital called
Hospital El Pino in San Bernardo. Meanwhile, the extension of Line 3 to the west would add 3.8 kilometers and 3 new stations to the Metro network, connecting the then-future station Los Libertadores with Quilicura. On November 2, 2017, Line 6 was inaugurated from Cerrillos to Los Leones adding 10 new stations. This new line does not have staffed ticket offices; instead there are automatic machines for ticket sales and loading money onto bip! cards. It has platform-edge doors to protect passengers, and traction power is supplied by overhead line equipment, not by conductor rails as on the other lines. It has new entrance and exit turnstiles at stations. The trains on Line 6 only have steel wheels, and are driverless. On January 22, 2019, Line 3 was inaugurated, after 9 years of prospecting and construction and being delayed since the 1980s after the
1985 Algarrobo earthquake and the changing demographics of the city during the 1980s and 1990s. Its rolling stock is identical to that on Line 6, and the lines were built simultaneously, so they are considered "twin lines". On September 25, 2023, Line 3 was extended 3.8 km west from its northern terminus to Plaza Quilicura.
2019 protests In October 2019, the Santiago metro network was affected by
social protests due to the increase in the fare of the entire Metropolitan Mobility Network. Initially, secondary students staged massive acts of evasion between 6 and 11 October. The protests quickly escalated to several metro stations, resulting in train service being repeatedly interrupted. On 18 October, the situation escalated and the entire network had to be closed due to attacks on stations and workers. At night, after the declaration of a state of emergency by President
Sebastián Piñera, several stations of the Metro were destroyed and burned, some of which were attacked again the next day, even though a curfew had been established. Meanwhile, the Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos investigated accusations that the
Baquedano station was used as a detention and torture center by police and military. On the morning of the same day, the site was reviewed by staff from the INDH, PDI and guarantee judges. The judges found no evidence of torture or illegal detentions at the site, but an investigation was launched to rule out any irregular situation. However, investigations conducted by the National Institute of Human Rights and the Public Prosecutor's Office found no evidence in this regard; in 2020, the allegations were dismissed, and the case was closed. The Metro network was partially reactivated as of Monday, October 21; however, due to the damage of some stations, the network would only be available in its entirety within a period of up to 7 months. Damages were estimated at more than $300 million. Metro de Santiago indicated that station infrastructure and rolling stock had not been insured. Lines 3 and 6, meanwhile, opened on 23 October, Lines 2 and 5 on the 25th, Line 4 on the 28th, and line 4A on November 25, in all cases partially and on a shortened schedule. On October 23, it was reported that 79 stations had been damaged in all, with lines 4, 4A, and 5 having the highest number of stations destroyed or vandalized. There were also damage to 6 trains, 5 on line 4 and one on line 1 - the latter set on fire at the San Pablo station. Upon the reopening of the last two stations (Trinidad and Protectora de la Infancia) on September 25, 2020, the metro system was back to 100% operation.
Lines 7, 8, 9 and Line A and
6, the construction of four new lines
7,
8,
9 and
A, and the construction of the
Santiago-Batuco commuter rail and the extension of the
Melitrén commuter rail. On June 1, 2017, President Michelle Bachelet announced in her last public account the construction of
Metro Line 7. The plan initially included 21 stations along a 25 km extension, between the commune of
Renca in the northwestern sector, and
Vitacura in the
northeastern sector. The route, estimated to open around 2027, was designed with a line parallel to the
Mapocho River and Line 1 in mind, which would allow it to be decongested by approximately 10 000 daily passengers. Line 7 would allow the incorporation of the communes of Renca,
Cerro Navia and Vitacura into the Network, also connecting popular neighborhoods with part of the financial and commercial district of the city. At the end of 2017, the newspaper El Mercurio published a report that indicated that the route of the line was modified, so that in the Providencia sector it would not circulate under Andrés Bello Avenue (as originally thought), but would go parallel to Line 1 along Providencia Avenue, eliminating the combination in Salvador and moving it to Pedro de Valdivia. In addition, Metro announced that it would extend Line 6 to Isidora Goyenechea of the future Line 7. One year after the announcement of Line 7, President Sebastián Piñera announced in his 2018 annual account that studies would begin for the construction of two new metro lines in a north–south direction:
Line 8, which will connect the communes of La Florida and Puente Alto with Providencia, while
Line 9 would reach from the center to the commune of
La Pintana, one of the last in the city to receive the Metro. In addition, he announced that Line 4 would be extended by three stations in the southern sector to reach
Bajos de Mena in Puente Alto. It was projected at that time that lines 8 and 9 would be inaugurated in 2028. The impact of the social outbreak of 2019 delayed the planning work for the extension of the three lines, being resumed in September 2021, so it is estimated that lines 7, 8 and 9 would be inaugurated from 2030. In August 2023, a modification to the layout of Line 9 was announced, expanding it in the north to the Puente Cal y Canto station — which will become the first station with four concurrent lines — and in the south to
Plaza de Puente Alto, combining with Line 4 and absorbing the proposed extension to Bajos de Mena. On May 14, 2025, the newspaper Diario Financiero reported that President Gabriel Boric would announce during that year's public address the construction of a light rail project that would connect the future Line 7 with the
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. With an estimated length of between six and seven kilometers, the train would connect the airport with the future station located on Avenida Mapocho Sur with Huelén in Cerro Navia. Finally, before the
National Congress of Chile, President
Gabriel Boric announced on June 1, 2025, the construction of
Line A, a
light rail line connecting the country's main airport and the Huelén station on Line 7.
Extension of Line 6 and 4A Before the full Congress, President Gabriel Boric announced on June 1, 2025, that once funds are available, the extension of Line 6 will be built to the populous western part of
Maipú, near the Hospital El Carmen. The extension will consist of 6.4 km and three new stations. Similarly, Line 4A will be extended from La Cisterna to Maipú to Del Sol station, connecting the
Lo Espejo district to the metro network, one of the poorest and most isolated in the metropolitan area. The line will also undergo a modernization process and be renamed Line 10. The extension will consist of 10 km and seven new stations. Both projects are expected to be completed no earlier than 2037.
Future plans Various proposals have been presented to expand the Santiago Metro once lines 7, 8 and 9 are built. Two communes in Greater Santiago will not have a direct connection to the Metro Network:
Padre Hurtado and
Lo Barnechea, while other three only have in theirs limits;
San Bernardo,
Peñalolén and
Huechuraba. Lo Barnechea has expressed its interest in building two additional stations on Line 7 to reach La Dehesa. During the inauguration of Line 3 in 2019, President Sebastián Piñera declared that Line 10 was going to be built. Although Metro indicated that a tenth line was not officially in its project portfolio, the government indicated that the initiative attempted to connect the Avenida Mapocho sector with Avenida Tobalaba, following the so-called "central ring" along Las Rejas, Suiza and Departamental avenues. Other alternatives for new lines have been analyzed in the media in recent years and have been momentarily discarded; a line in the eastern sector through Tobalaba-Vespucio or Manquehue, another parallel to Line 1 through 5 de Abril-Blanco Encalada-Santa Isabel-Bilbao and Manquehue, and the northern section of "Line 10" through Dorsal, Lo Espinoza and Radal.
Timeline == Rolling stock ==