Work on the 5.3-kilometer underground tunnel of Guadalajara’s third subway (Tren Ligero) line is slated to later this year. First, a tunnel-boring machine measuring 95x12 meters will be brought in from Valencia, Spain, via Manzanillo. Its transportation is expected to take two months. The machine will cut through the city center’s subsoil at a depth of 30 meters, covering a distance of between five and ten meters a day. The tunnel will be finished by early 2016 at a cost of 2.7 billion pesos – around 15 percent of the project’s total budget of 17 billion pesos. The same boring machine was used to construct a tunnel in Barcelona for Spain’s high-speed AVE rail network. This tunnel passed close to Barcelona’s famous Sagrada Familia basilica. A similar situation faces engineers in Guadalajara, as Linea Tres will pass almost directly beneath the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The underground section of the subway line takes up one-quarter of its 21.45-kilometer length. The tunnel will run from La Normal Glorieta, under avenidas Alcalde, 16 de septiembre and Revolucion, to Plaza de la Bandera. The five below-ground stations will be La Normal, Santuario, Catedral, Independencia and Plaza de la Bandera. Line Three will run diagonally across the city from the center of Zapopan to the bus station in Tonala.