THE northern section of São Paulo's Line 6-Orange metro has opened between Brasilândia and Perdizes serving six stations initially.
A partial service is being provided free of charge on weekdays between 10.00 and 15.00 with trains running at 30km/h in manual mode initially.
According to the Brazilian magazine, Revista Ferroviária, two more stations are expected to open in December. The entire 15.3km line from Brasilândia to São Joaquim with 14 of its 15 stations is expected to be completed next year with full automatic operation.
Known as the “university line,” Line 6-Orange will connect seven higher education institutions in São Paulo, as well as several schools located near Avenida Paulista. Line 6-Orange will interchange with Line 1 at São Joaquim, Line 4 at Higienópolis-Mackenzie, and lines 7 and 8 at Agua Branca.
The line is being built as a public-private partnership (PPP) between the São Paulo state government and the LinhaUni Concessionaire, which will operate the line for 19 years. The concessionaire comprises Acciona, Spain, in partnership with investment bank Société Générale and Stoa, an infrastructure and investment company owned by Caisse des Dépôts and AFD. There is also strategic participation by public transport operator Transdev.
Total investment in the project is Reais 17bn ($US 3.26bn), financed by a consortium of 11 banks with Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) providing Reais 6.9bn.
Alstom is supplying a fleet of 22 six-car Metropolis trains manufactured at its plant in Taubaté in São Paulo and has already delivered 12 trains. The trains are manufactured in stainless steel, which Alstom says makes them light weight and energy efficient. Each 80km/h train can transport up to 2044 passengers.
The end-to-end journey time will be 23 minutes, compared with around 90 minutes by bus.
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