São Paulo Metro

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São Paulo Metro

Locale	São Paulo
Transit type	Rapid transit
Began operation	September 14, 1974
System length	61,3 km (38.3 mi)
No. of lines	4
No. of stations	55
Daily ridership	3,200,000 (FY 2008)
Operator(s)	Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo

The interior of a metro station in São Paulo

Outside the Consolação Metro station in the Avenida Paulista (Line 2 - Green)

Train of São Paulo Metro

Liberdade Station.

The Sao Paulo Metro (Portuguese: Metropolitano de Sao Paulo, commonly called Metro) is the city of Sao Paulo's rapid transit system. The first of such systems in Brazil, it began operations in 1974. Although São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 19 million (11 million city proper), its metro system is relatively small (61,3 kilometers of track) when compared to its European or North American counterparts.

It consists of four color-coded lines: Line 1-Blue, Line 2-Green, Line 3-Red and Line 5-Lilac; Line 4-Yellow is currently under construction and is due to start operating in late 2009. The metro system carries 3,200,000 passengers a day. Metro itself is far from covering the entire urban area in the city of São Paulo. Another company, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), works along the metro system and runs railways converted into light rail service lines, which total six lines (7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12), 261,8 km long, serving 88 stations. Metro and CPTM are integrated through various stations. Metro and CPTM both operate as State-owned companies, and have received awards in the recent past as one of the cleanest systems in the world by ISO9001.

The first line, Norte-Sul (North-South), later renamed the "blue line" or Line 1 – Blue, was opened in September 18, 1972, with an experimental operation between Saúde and Jabaquara stations. Commercial operations started on September 14, 1974, after an eight-year "gestation" period that began in 1966, under mayor Faria Lima's administration.

Expansion of the metro system includes new lines. As of late 2004, construction began on a US$ 1 billion, 12.8 km all-underground line (Line 4 – Yellow), with eleven stations, aimed at transporting almost one million people per day. By 2004, line 2 was also being expanded, with two new stations open in 2006 and another one in 2007.

An 11.4 km expansion of the Line 5 and construction of a 28 km airport express line are in the pipeline as well. The plans also include updating the CPTM heavy rail system, which will add several million passengers capacity into the system. It is expected that the São Paulo Metro and CPTM systems will carry about 7 million people on average week days by 2014, as opposed to today's 5 million (Metro: 3.2 million; CPTM: 1.8 million as of 2008).

Metro stations operate from 4:40 a.m. to around 12:00 a.m. As of 2008, tickets cost R$2.40 (about US$1.45). Integrated tickets which may be used on city buses are also available, and cost R$4.00 (about US$2.40). In 2006, the São Paulo Metro system has started to use an electronic ticket, called "Bilhete Único" (or "Single Ticket" in English). With this ticket, used as a rechargeable smart card, a passenger can take up to 3 buses and 1 metro or suburban train within 2 hours paying only R$3.50, or 4 buses and pay R$2.30.

1 Current Operational Data
2 Conversion of metropolitan lines for Surface Metro
3 Table System
4 Future developments
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Current Operational Data

Its current extension does not cover all areas of the city, however, the network of subway, with four lines and one under construction, is complemented by a network of metropolitan trains of 261,8 km, divided into six lines operated by CPTM, which serve the capital and other cities in the Greater Sao Paulo, extending up to Jundiaí.

The São Paulo Metro has today 61.3 kilometers long in four lines and 55 stations. The system is integrated to the Metropolitan Companhia Paulista de Trains in stations Brás, Palmeiras - Barra Funda, Tatuapé, Corinthians - Itaquera, Luz and Santo Amaro. It is still with Terminal Road at stations Jabaquara, Portuguese-Tietê and Palmeiras - Barra Funda.

Daily, the Metro carries about three million passengers on average, and two million entry in the system and the remainder of free integrations with CPTM and paid with the municipal bus system.

[edit] Conversion of metropolitan lines for Surface Metro

This project of conversion of lines to metro arose due to the high demand of passengers who use the metropolitan lines of CPTM and the need to recover the old stations. Currently, the interval between trains goes up to thirty minutes on weekends, and yet there are old nineteenth century stations that were never modernized. With the extreme need to recover stations, it appeared that the plan of conversion, which is nothing but the modernization of the stations, purchase of new trains and reduction of headway to less than three minutes, as international standards.

Between the end of the 1990's and the early 2000's, with this project of refurbishing the CPTM lines, inherited from the Federal Railway Network and Fepasa (former São Paulo State Railways), the conversion of some metropolitan lines to the Metro standard began. This experience started in Line E, in the stretch known as "Eastern Express", serving Eastern São Paulo and running parallel to Line 3-Red. The stretch completed (to Guaianases station) today has new and modern trains and stations with a new route in the final part. The next stretch to be built, between the station Guaianases, in the Capital, and Estudantes in Mogi das Cruzes, also covering the cities of Ferraz de Vasconcelos, Suzano and Poá, is estimated to have its works resumed in 2007, but this was again postponed, now to 2008.

Currently, the Esmeralda Line (formerly Line C) is the only CPTM line to have been converted to full Metro, and is managed by a joint venture between CPTM and Metro.

"Black Room" at the CCO. This place is made of the tracking lines 1-Blue, 2-Green and 3-Red

[edit] Table System

Line	Terminals	Inauguration	Length(km)	Stations	Length of trips (min)	Operation (*)
1	Tucuruvi ↔ Jabaquara	September 14, 1974	20,2	23	44	Daily, From 4h40a.m to 0h32¹
2	Vila Madalena ↔ Alto do Ipiranga²	January 25, 1991	10,7	12 (14)	18	Daily, From 4h40 a.m to 0h20¹
3	Palmeiras-Barra Funda ↔ Corinthians-Itaquera	March 10, 1979	22	18	36	Daily, From, 4h40 a.m to 0h35¹
4	Luz ↔ Vila Sônia	Delivery scheduled for 2009	12,8	11	-	under construction
5	Capão Redondo ↔ Largo Treze³	October 10, 2002	8,4 (21)	6 (17)	13	Daily, from 4h40 a.m to 0h00

(*) On Saturdays, Lines 1, 2 and 3 close to 01:00 on Sunday

The Stations of line 1-Blue, 2-Green e 3-Red close at different times, according to the passage of the last train. That is, as, for example, the station Jabaquara closes at 0h06, the São Bento station closes at 0h32
Line 2 is currently being extended in two stations from Alto do Ipiranga to Tamanduateí where it will meet Line D of CPTM, the urban train system.
Line 5 is to be extended in 10 stations to Chácara Klabin, meeting Line 2 in the final station and Line 1 in Santa Cruz station. Construction will be ready by 2012.

[edit] Future developments

The following lines are in project:

Map of complete São Paulo Metro system, including urban train lines. Only the white and black points are currently fully operational stations. The round white circles are stations under construction and the round black circles are planned stations.