Eight stations on Santiago Metro Line 5 were closed on the night of Friday, October 9. Passengers reported explosions, sparks and smoke inside a train traveling between Ñuble and Rodrigo de Araya during rush hour.
According to El Mostrador, at 20:12 Metro announced that service was operating only between Plaza de Maipú and Ñuble. Service between Rodrigo de Araya and Vicente Valdés was suspended, including the connection to Line 4.
The closed stations were Rodrigo de Araya, Carlos Valdovinos, Camino Agrícola, San Joaquín, Pedrero, Mirador, Bellavista de La Florida and Vicente Valdés.
The firefighters' preliminary report describes a track fire caused by a short circuit. According to Cooperativa, the Santiago Fire Department explained that an electrical fault produced a bright flash, presumably an electrical arc, near the wheels of one of the trains. The police, however, reported a fault in the train's wheels, which sent out sparks as it moved.
Units from the Ñuñoa and Southern Metropolitan fire departments arrived at the scene. Cooperativa specified that four companies brought the emergency under control and that passengers were evacuated. At that point, no injuries had been reported.
Ignacio, a passenger, told Radio Bío Bío that he got off the train at Rodrigo de Araya after hearing an explosion. In his view, it could have come from a tire or the underside of the older cars. "Lots of sparks and lots of smoke. We thought it was about to explode completely," he said.
Videos of the smoke-filled car circulated on social media. The account @ElInformante_CL wrote on X that, minutes before the incident, the company had said the entire network was operating normally.
To cover the suspended section, Red Movilidad, the capital's bus system, provided support buses between Ñuble and Vicente Valdés. It also increased service on routes 210, 210v, 210e and 213e.
According to initial reports, Metro had not officially confirmed the causes of the emergency or provided a time for normal service to resume.
