Bogotá, Colombia will finally be getting its first rail system.

The contract has been signed at Colombia’s Presidential House and the nation’s capital can expect a metro by 2025.

Talking with a commuter who takes 3 hours to get home every day, the new rail system would benefit her greatly.

Dayanne spends about 16 hours a week just trying to get home after work. She’s not alone. 

More than seven million people live in Bogotá and many of them depend on the same methods of transportation every day.

Whether it’s two or four wheels, transportation in Bogotá takes too long. 

The country is one of the highest in Latin America when it comes to commute times.

To compare to other cities:

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on average in 2015, Beijing workers spent 52 minutes traveling each way.

Beijing has the longest daily commute time with Shanghai in a close second. 

Their average commute is 51 minutes.

According to WAMU, in 2018, Washington, D.C. commuters spent about 43 minutes commuting each way.

Bogotá's Metro General Manager, Andrés Escobar, says the elevated metro line will have 16 stations and transport up to 3,000,000 people a day.

The companies behind building Bogotá’s new rail system come from Canada and China. 

They’ll be working the system for the next 20 years. 

Escobar also says, not only will this train help commute times in the city, but it will also help lower impacts to the environment and accident rates. 

Colombia expects the project to create around 60,000 new jobs.