BOGOTA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Colombia on Tuesday marked the inauguration in its capital city of Bogota of construction of the rail yard of Bogota Metro's first subway line.
"Today, Aug. 17, 2021, we are ... making the dream of all Bogotan citizens come true: making progress on the construction of the first line of the Bogota Metro," said Claudia Lopez, mayor of the city.
The subway line is being built by a consortium of Chinese companies, namely China Harbor Engineering Company Limited and Xi'an Metro Company Limited.
"Few projects are going to improve quality of life more," said Lopez, adding that the project is to cut travel time by half, improve mobility and productivity.
Construction of the subject "will generate more than 17,000 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs," the mayor added.
Building the rail yard and the storing and maintenance area for the more than 30 trains serving the first line has generated some 350 new jobs, said Wu Yu, legal representative of the Metro Line 1 SAS firm.
The project will help revive Bogota's economy with the participation of at least nine local companies, said Leonidas Narvaez, manager of the Bogota Metro Company.
"This is a historic moment for Bogota -- the rail yard is the heart of the first metro line," said Narvaez, adding the subway system may eventually have 60 trains in operation as it is expanded northward.
The 23.9-km-long first line is expected to be operational by 2028, according to Lopez. Enditem
