Work has begun on a major tunnel under an iconic Central American canal transforming transport links in the area.
Last week, construction and lining work officially got underway on the first underwater tunnel to pass under the famous Panama Canal for use by the country’s Metro Line 3 monorail project.
Celebrating the undertaking, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said: “We started up the tunnel boring machine that will build the tunnel for Line 3 of the Panama Metro.”
He congratulated the workers who will be operating the machinery to smash through rock 65 metres below the seabed of the canal for 22 months.
“It is a great pleasure to see a joint workforce, but mostly Panamanian,” Mulino said, as per Newsroom Panama.
The tunnel will be a key section of the The Metro Line 3 project, which was launched to address major congestion in the metropolitan area, is estimated to cost around $2.5billion (£1.8billion).
The whole project is expected to create 5,000 jobs during its development, including 800 locally.
Construction is thought to be around 63 percent complete and when finished will connect the east and west of the country.
The use of monorail technology will also allow the service to move through areas where the elevation varies greatly, according to Autodesk.
Work on phase one of the project, connecting Albrook to the Ciudad del Futuro sector, began in February 2021, Railway Technology reports.
It’s expected to serve 20,000 passengers during peak hours, with waits of only four minutes between services. Meanwhile, phase two, which will extend up to La Chorrera, is expected to serve some 32,000 passengers by 2050, according to the outlet.
The main contractor, HPH consortium, was appointed in October 2020 comprises Hyundai E&C (Hyundai Engineering & Construction), POSCO E&C (POSCO Engineering & Construction), and Hyundai Engineering, according to Autodesk.
Work on the major infrastructure project is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2026.