Snapshot: 2nd Santo Domingo cable car line to be ready in February

Line No. 2 of the Santo Domingo cable car system, which is currently undergoing tests, is expected to be operating next month. 

That was a promise made by Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader on December 21 last year, when he said the line would be ready during the third week of February.

Line No. 2, the capex for which has been put at US$126mn, is one of the key transport infrastructure projects currently being carried out in the Santo Domingo integrated transport system (SIT Santo Domingo). 

The works are being done by a consortium formed by regional contractor J. Fortuna Constructora and French firm Poma. The latter also manufactured and delivered 163 cable cars that will be used on the line.

Once in operation, line No. 2 will be able to transport 9,000 passengers per hour. By comparison, Santo Domingo cable car line No. 1 can only carry 6,000 people per hour. 

The project, which will include a cable car garage and a commercial area with restaurants and stores, will connect with bus routes at an intercity terminal and with Santo Domingo metro line 2 C, which is currently under construction. 

The cable cars are designed to move at a speed of 7m/s (25km/h) between the four stations on the line, which will be 4.2km long. The stations are Los Alcarrizos, La Toronja, Puente Blanco and Los Americanos, spread across three municipalities of Santo Domingo.

The cables making up the line were installed in October and November last year. 

The tests with empty and loaded gondolas began in late December and will continue into February. 

“We are expecting significantly more passengers than on line No. 1, as there are more than 395,000 residents living in the catchment area of the new cable car,” Poma project manager Guillaume Ployon said last year.

Line No. 2 is intended to reduce congestion in the area and make it easier for people in the Los Alcarrizos area to reach Los Americanos without having to change cars as they do on line No. 1. This will also cut commuting times. 

Altogether, the Santo Domingo metro and cable car lines will add up to 65km: 14.5km on line No. 1 of the metro, 41.3km on line No. 2, including 34km currently in operation and 7.3km of line 2C, and 9.2km on the two cable car lines: 5km on line no. 1 and 4.2km on line No. 2.

The section of metro from line 2 C that will connect to cable car line No. 2 in Los Alcarrizos is expected to be completed in February 2024.