AFTER a 25-year delay, Lima — home to nearly a third of Peru’s population — is getting its first long-distance, low-cost mass public transportation system.

Thousands of customers flocked to the southernmost terminal of Lima’s new electric train for a free ride downtown, earlier this week

The train system began “pre-operational tests” this week, said Fernando Deustua, the manager of GyM Ferrovias, which operates the network.

Unlike other major regional cities like Santiago and Buenos Aires, Lima — one of the five most populous South American cities — does not have a subway. Instead the electric train is designed to operate above ground, much of it on elevated track, to save money.

The 22-kilometre (14-mile) trip from the working-class neighbourhood of Villa El Salvador to downtown takes 30 minutes, including several stops along the way. The same trip in a vehicle usually takes two hours due to the city’s heavy traffic.

The train began operations on Tuesday with no prior warning, surprising city residents who for years have driven under sections of the unused elevated track.

Construction on the system began in 1986 during the first administration of president Alan Garcia. Over the years the project was paralysed due to charges of corruption — never confirmed — and shifting government priorities.

In the meantime, Lima’s population ballooned from some five million to nearly nine million today, and Peru’s population rose to more than 29 million.

To solve the pressing public transportation problem, the government of president Alberto Fujimori in the 1990s allowed a free system of public transportation which resulted in swarms of privately owned minivans known locally as “combis” that can carry up to 15 passengers.

The result was traffic gridlock and pollution woes.

For January, the system’s six-car trains will operate on a limited schedule offering free rides, Deustua said.

Ticketed rides begin in February, and by next year operators expect to have more trains and increase the frequency to every six minutes, he said.

The network’s second stage includes a 12-kilometre stretch linking Lima’s heavily populated northern working-class districts to the downtown area.