Forbes
The French corporation Alstom announced that it has been selected to build the first monorail in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean, which will be built in Santiago de los Caballeros, the country's second most populated city located in the North.
Alstom will deliver the 13 Innovia Monorail 300 automated four-car trains, which incorporate the design and operating characteristics necessary for a high-capacity urban transport system, explains a statement published by the corporation.
These features include driverless automatic operation, bidirectional operation, and compliance with international safety requirements and standards.
Signing of the contract between Alstom-Sofratesa and FITRAM. Photo: Alstom.
“Leveraging Alstom’s strong leadership with over 30 years of experience in communications-based train control (CBTC), Alstom’s Cityflo 650 CBTC solution, the first driverless rail control system in the Dominican Republic, will support the highest degree of automation (GoA4), enabling high reliability, shorter intervals between trains, flexible and safe operations, and reduced maintenance costs,” the statement said.
He adds that, to further increase the system's energy efficiency, Alstom will install Hesop reversible power plants, which means not only building fewer substations along the route but also recovering and reinjecting up to 99% of the trains' braking energy into the grid.
Contract details
The project will be developed by the SIF Consortium, led by Alstom and including Sofratesa. The contract is worth approximately €500 million to the consortium, with Alstom's share being around €370 million. The project is being financed by the French government, the corporation reported.
The Santiago monorail, developed by the Trust for the Development of the Mass Transit System (FITRAM), will cover approximately 13 kilometers, have 14 stations, and have the capacity to transport up to 20,000 passengers per hour.
