THE state of São Paulo in Brazil has confirmed a major increase in rail investment this year. The 2026 budget approved by the São Paulo Legislative Assembly provides Reais 7.99bn ($US 1.1bn), with more than half set to be allocated to metro infrastructure projects, including line extensions and new-build sections.
State officials describe the current cycle as the largest coordinated rail investment effort in São Paulo’s history, with funding focused on accelerating delivery and strengthening project execution capacity of the projects managed by The Secretariat of Investment Partnerships (SPI).
Metro developments
Construction of Metro Line 6/Orange, a 15.3km fully underground line linking Brasilândia in the northwest of the São Paulo city to São Joaquim in the central area, has moved into its final civil works phase.
The Reais 19.1bn project is reported by state authorities to be more than 75% complete, with passenger services between Brasilândia and Perdizes scheduled to begin in October and full opening planned for next year. Once operational, Line 6 is forecast to carry more than 630,000 passengers per day and will provide interchange connections with lines 1/Blue and 4/Yellow, as well as São Paulo Metropolitan Trains (CPTM) regional services.
Progress has also been confirmed on the planned 3.3km extension of Line 4/Yellow to Taboão da Serra including two new stations. The state government has structured a $US 750m funding package as an amendment to the existing concession contract, and includes support mechanisms linked to the World Bank.
For information on metro projects across Central/South America, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
