Teresina Metro

The Teresina Metro (Portuguese: Metrô de Teresina, commonly called Metrô, though it is technically not a metro system) in Teresina, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Piauí, is a diesel commuter rail line operated by CMTP (Metropolitan Public Transport Company). It is 13.5 km long with a daily ridership of about 12,000.

History
The Teresina Metro was inaugurated on 15 August 1989, with the objective of establishing a high-capacity transport for the urban agglomeration of Teresina. The works were initiated at the end of 1989.

To reduce the costs of the system, the project uses the existing metre gauge rail line, which travels through Teresina. It was placed into a cut in the centre of the city, to reduce interference with road traffic. It adopted diesel train-sets sponsored by RFFSA, which covered the stretch between Porto Alegre and Uruguaiana, which has the metre gauge track. Line 1 entered into trial operation in November 1990 and was launched commercially on 5 June 1991.

A new station under construction in the city centre was supposed to increase usage to 20,000 passengers daily since none of the other stations are in the center of the city nor do they have bus terminals at their stations (the majority of Teresina Metro stations are on narrow streets in poorer neighborhoods with little commercial activity). After the inauguration of the Engenheiro Alberto Tavares Silva/Bandeira station, daily ridership only increased to 8,000 in 2013. In comparison, the city bus system handles about 225,000 daily passengers.

The Teresina Metro has plans to expand since it currently serves no major shopping center (besides the Shopping da Cidade which is populated by street vendors), the local soccer stadium, bus station or airport.

System characteristics
The system consists of a total length of 13.5 km. Eight stations formed mostly by surface track. Diesel trains are running on a single-track line with meter gauge, traveling at an average speed of 30 km/h. One of the train sets has been completely modernised in 2006.