Rumor had it that behind the walls of historic subway station Cal y Canto in Santiago de Chile, a hidden ghost station would eventually link to Line 3—a planned route that was part of the original Metro master plan designed in the 60s. Its construction would have been shelved after the magnitude-7.8 1985 earthquake that forced public resources to be redirected for the reconstruction of the Chilean central valley.
34 years later, the Cal y Canto Metro station finally opened its connection with Line 3, the most recent addition to the rapid transit system, thus becoming the seventh line of Santiago after lines 1, 2, 4, 4A, 5, and 6.
With this opening of 22 kilometers and 18 stations, the Santiago Metro became in 2019 the second largest network in Latin America in terms of length (140 kilometers, 87 miles) and by the number of stations (136), surpassed only by Mexico City's. Currently, Metro is advancing in the projects of Lines 7, 8, and 9, and it is expected to exceed one billion passengers per year after the start of these routes in 2026, according to the original planning.
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