Guadalajara light rail system

The history of urban trains in Guadalajara dates back to the 19th century, with the first trams pulled by mules, serving a route between the Guadalajara Cathedral and the Templo de la Merced.

In 1974, several houses and streets in the city centre were demolished to make way for a new wide roadway, named Avenida Federalismo; the construction project included a new public-transport tunnel beneath the roadway. Avenida Federalismo (also known as Calzada del Federalismo) replaced what had been C. Moro (but with a much wider right-of-way) and is one of Guadalajara's major thoroughfares. The 6.6-kilometre (4.1 mi) tunnel underneath the avenue was designed for future use by a rail system, but due to a lack of funding at the time, it was served initially by a new trolleybus system, which opened on December 15, 1976.[5] Several years later, work began to convert the trolleybus tunnel and stations for use by a light rail line. The tunnel closed for trolleybuses in early 1988,[6] and the first light rail line, Line 1, opened on September 1, 1989.[5][7] Trolleybus service has remained in operation on other routes.

Line 2 runs entirely underground. Oblatos station, 2019

A few years later, Line 2 was constructed, generally running east from the city center; it opened on July 1, 1994.[5][7] Because of the continuing heavy traffic congestion on the city's streets and the large numbers of users of the rail system, there are plans to extend Line 2 to the west and to build a third line.

Line 1 runs underground in the city center, but runs "at grade" north and south of the city center, and its surface sections include several level crossings, protected by crossing gates. The station platforms accommodate trains composed of no more than two cars. Line 2 is entirely underground except for a non-passenger section at its east end, connecting the last station to the maintenance facility. Its stations are long enough to accommodate trains of up to four cars.

Siemens supplied the system engineering, signaling and telecommunication, power supply, and some components of the vehicles.

Construction of Line 3[8] began at the end of 2014. The 21.45-kilometre (13.33 mi) line includes a 5.35 km long (3.32 mi) underground tunnel, flanked by two elevated segments: 8.65 km (5.37 mi) in the northwest Zapopan section and 7.45 km (4.63 mi) in the southeast Tlaquepaque section; the entire line serves 18 stations, 5 of which are in the tunnel.[9] It crosses the full length of the city running northwest to southeast, from Zapopan in the northwest to Tlaquepaque and Tonalá, in the southeast, through the city center.[10] In addition to the rolling stock, Alstom provided the communication, signalling, and traffic control systems for Line 3,[11] which began operation on September 12, 2020.[12]

In 2018, SITEUR added the Auditorio station to Line 1, which became the new northern terminus, and began lengthening Line 1 station platforms from 60 to 90 m (200 to 300 ft) to accommodate three-car train consists. Partial operation began with three-car trains in March 2019, and the platform extension project is expected to be complete by May 2019; other upgrades to train signaling and control are expected to be complete by July 2020. The TEG-90 fleet was updated with new motors and power converters.[13]

Preliminary work on Line 4 is projected to begin in October 2021, and construction is estimated to be complete by 2024.[14] Line 4 will run approximately 20 km (12 mi) south from Guadalajara/Tlaquepaque (the northern terminus is at the existing Fray Angélico station, which is the southern terminus of the Mi Macro Calzada BRT service) to Tlajomulco along an existing railroad right-of-way.[12][13]

Unidad Deportiva station, on Line 1

Guadalajara light rail
3  Arco de Zapopan Auditorio  1  Periferico Belenes Periférico Norte Mercado del Mar Dermatológico shops Zapopan Centro Tetlán  2  Atemajac La Aurora Plaza Patria San Jacinto División del Norte San Andrés Circunvalación Country Cristóbal de Oñate Ávila Camacho Oblatos La Normal (CETRAM) Belisario Domínguez Santuario San Juan de Dios Mezquitán Guadalajara Centro Refugio Plaza Universidad  2  Juárez Indepencia Mexicaltzingo Plaza de La Bandera Washington Tequila Express to Amatitán Railroad Station CUCEI Santa Filomena Revolución Unidad Deportiva Río Nilo Urdaneta Tlaquepaque Centro 18 de Marzo Lázaro Cárdenas Isla Raza Central de Autobuses  3  Patria España Santuario Mártires de Cristo Rey shops  1  Periférico Sur

Car 002, built in 1988 by Concarril, laying over at the southern terminus of Line 1, Periférico Sur station, in 1990.

The fleet consists of 78 articulated light rail vehicles,[15] each bi-directional ("double-ended") and powered from overhead lines. They have a top speed of 70 km/h (43 mph). Three of the models are the same general type – only the Barcelona Metro 9000 Series units, which operate on the Line 3, are different – three models were built in Mexico, and one model was built in Spain.

The first 16 TLG-88 (Tren Ligero de Guadalajara, 1988) cars were built by Concarril in Ciudad Sahagún,[5] using propulsion equipment from Melmex (Mitsubishi Electric of Mexico).[16] Another 32 TEG-90 (Tren Eléctrico de Guadalajara, 1990) cars were ordered in 1990 and were manufactured by Bombardier, which acquired Concarril in 1992; the TEG-90 cars were built in the same factory as the earlier batch of TLG-88 cars.[5] The TEG-90 are cosmetically similar to the TLG-88 but use propulsion equipment from Siemens. Both the TLG-88 and TEG-90 are derived from the Stadtbahnwagen B design.[12]

SITEUR ordered 18 Barcelona Metro 9000 Series from Alstom for Line 3 in 2014. The rolling stock for Line 3 uses three-car train consists and are equipped with air conditioning; trains can reach a peak speed of 90 km/h (56 mph).[17][18]

In 2015 SITEUR ordered 12 TEG-15 (Tren Eléctrico de Guadalajara, 2015) cars, also from Bombardier, for Line 1.[19] The TEG-15 is based on the TE-12 design for Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos del Distrito Federal in Mexico City.[20]

Model	Image	Manufacturer	Year Built	Quantity	Operating Lines
TLG-88		Concarril-Melmex (Mitsubishi)	1988	16	Line 2
TEG-90		Bombardier-Siemens	1990	32	Lines 1 and 2
TEG-15		Bombardier	2015	12	Line 1
Barcelona Metro 9000 Series		Alstom	2016	18	Line 3

• Guadalajara Macrobús
• Light rail in North America
• List of Latin American rail transit systems by ridership
• List of North American light rail systems by ridership
• Trolleybuses in Guadalajara

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guadalajara light rail system.

• SITEUR (in Spanish)
• Guadalajara at UrbanRail.net
• Mapa del sistema en Google Earth (in English)