The first section on Line 2 opened to the public on March 31, 1978 running between
Los Héroes and
Franklin. Later the same year, in December, the next section opened running between
Franklin and
Lo Ovalle. Plans for an extension southeast towards Rodrigo de Araya were postponed after
a major earthquake in 1985; in fact, only two stations opened separately at the line's northern end in 1987 (
Santa Ana and
Puente Cal y Canto). Two decades later, with a change of plans, it was decided that Line 2 would continue northwards instead of southeast, owing to recent availability of
Tunnel Boring Machines, and on September 8, 2004, two further stations opened to the north,
Patronato and
Cerro Blanco. These stations marked a new feat in Santiago and overall Chilean engineering by building under the
Mapocho River and the
Costanera Norte freeway. That year, the line was also extended to the south with the opening of
El Parrón and
La Cisterna. Another section opened in the north on November 25, 2005, running from
Cerro Blanco station to
Einstein station. Finally, on December 22, 2006, the three most recent stations opened:
Vespucio Norte,
Zapadores and
Dorsal. On October 26, 2009, the express service began to run on Line 2, stopping at certain stations only at peak times, allowing for faster journeys. On November 2, 2017, line 6 opened to the public, intersecting line 2 with line 6 at
Franklin. On July 30, 2019, the construction of a southward extension began, where 4 new stations will be added; the extension will be operational by 2023, enabling the metro to serve El Bosque and San Bernando, specifically the El Pino hospital in the latter. In October 2019,
a series of protests resulted in damage to the metro network. Line 2 was closed because of a fire in the mezzanine of Vespucio Norte on October 18, which resulted in moderate damage; a few other stations on Line 2 suffered minor damage. Service on the line was partly restored on October 25 with trains running express between La Cisterna and Zapadores. Full service was restored to Line 2 on November 11. The protests didn't affect the works on the southward extension to San Bernardo. ==Communes served by Line 2==