User:Etp01/Metropolitan Transport Network of São Paulo

Metropolitan Transport Network of São Paulo ...

The Metropolitan Transport Network of São Paulo (Portuguese: Rede de Transporte Metropolitano de São Paulo) is an integrated system comprising metro, commuter rail, bus rapid transit - BRT and common bus service systems in the city of São Paulo and neighborhoods, serving an average 4.8 million trips daily. It is a responsibility of the São Paulo Metropolitan Transports Department.

The transport network has 61 metro stations, 89 commuter rail stations , 9 BRT terminals and 110 BRT stops.

Metro
The São Paulo Metro has 5 lines, 4 of them operated by Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo, which is a state-owned company. The other one has been granted to a private company, ViaQuatro through a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The construction started in 1968 and the first line was opened to the public in 1974 with 7 stations connecting Jabaquara terminal and Vila Mariana station, both at South of the city of São Paulo. In 1975 13 new stations were opened and the operation was extended to Santana station, North of São Paulo. Therefore this line was named North-South line. Lately in 1979 another line was inaugurated linking the existing North-South line at Sé station (downtown São Paulo) to the new Brás station (East side). In 1988 its path was finished, linking Barra Funda terminal (West side) to Itaquera terminal, becoming the East-West line.

In 1991 the so-called Paulista branch was opened, connecting the North-South line to one of the most important avenues in the city of São Paulo, Paulista Avenue, the financial center of Brazil. Lately this branch was extended southeast and it is now the Line 2 - Green.

In 2002 the Line 5 - Lilac started its operations, from Capão Redondo neighborhood to Largo 13 station. Although this line still in construction, it currently has no connections with the other lines in the Metro system; but it reaches the CPTM commuter rail system.

The newest line, named Line 4 - Yellow, opened in 2010. With state-of-art technologies employed, such as driverless trains, it demanded an exhaustive period of time to ensure their proper running, but is now fully operational linking commuter rail service, lines 2, 3 - Red (former East-West line) and 1 - Blue (former North-South line).

Currently São Paulo Metro has 74.3 km rails. Its expansion is being done at Lines 4 and 5, as well as the studies for the new Line 6.

Commuter Rail
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Commuter Rail service is provided by CPTM - Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos, a state-owned company established in 1992 to absorb the commuter operations from the former Ferrovia Paulista S/A - FEPASA and the São Paulo branch of Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos - CBTU. At that time, such service was well-known as unreliable, obsolete, and unsafe.

CBTU trains were the commuter train division from the Federal Railroad Network, which was formed after merging many railroads along the country, such as São Paulo Railway - SPR, later Estrada de Ferro Santos a Jundiaí and Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil. Both of them were built in the 19th Century.

As the name implies, the Estrada de Ferro Santos a Jundiaí (Santos to Jundiaí Rail Road) linked both cities, along with many other cities bewteen them, such as Santo André, Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires, Mauá, São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo, Caieiras, Franco da Rocha, Francisco Morato, Campo Limpo Paulista and Várzea Paulista. Its main station is Luz station, established 1867 downtown São Paulo.

The Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil linked São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, and the commuter rail served São Paulo up to the city of Mogi das Cruzes, passing thru Ferraz de Vasconcelos, Poá, Itaquaquecetuba and Suzano. It started using the former Roosevelt station (now Brás station) as its main one, later using Luz station as well.

FEPASA was the São Paulo state railroad company, also formed by merging several railroads spreaded over the state. Its main station was Júlio Prestes station, located very close to Luz station. It had two branches, the South one connecting the city of Osasco to the South of São Paulo, and the West branch connecting Júlio Prestes station up to Amador Bueno stop at Itapevi, crossing Osasco, Carapicuíba, Barueri and Jandira.

Both railroads share commuter and freight trains, as well as long-distance passenger trains. After CPTM's creation and further selling of the freight train services to private companies, the long-distance passenger trains were discontinued.

As CPTM took over, many investments were made to the system, making it more reliable and safe. An extensive car replacement effort has been done, including the application of air-conditioned trains and stations' improvement. Those efforts leaded to triple the daily attendance, from 800,000 passengers a day in 1992 to 2,6 million passengers nowadays.

Currently CPTM operates 260 km rails in 6 lines.

Bus Rapid Transit
BRT service is provided at the Corredor São Mateus-Jabaquara busway, owned by EMTU - Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos. Its path connects the cities of São Paulo, Mauá, Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.

It started to operate in 1998, connecting Ferrazópolis Bus Terminal and São Mateus Bus Terminal, in São Bernardo do Campo and eastbound São Paulo, respectively. In 1990 the second branch has been finished, thus connecting the system to São Paulo Metro thru Jabaquara station. As most of the busway is served by electric buses, it is often referred as the trolleybus network.

Operated by EMTU itself at first, its operations have been granted to Metra - Sistema Metropolitano de Transportes in 1997.

Currently Metra operates 33 km busways along 9 bus terminals.

Shuttle Services
Shuttle services, known as Ponte ORCA, where ORCA stands for Operador Regional Coletivo Autônomo (Independent Collective Regional Operator), were employed between some metro and commuter train stations to make faster connections employing microbuses. With the new expansions added to the system, all ORCA services in São Paulo have been shut down, except for ORCA Zoo, which is a shuttle connecting Jabaquara terminal to the São Paulo Zoo. It is a paid service.

Airport Express Buses
The Airport Express lines (not shown in the network map) connect the Gov. André Franco Montoro International Airport to some destinations in São Paulo, such as Congonhas Airport, República Square, Barra Funda Bus Terminal, and the neighbourhoods of Itaim Bibi and Paulista Avenue. The service is offered with express coach buses and regular buses as well.

Touristic Express
The Touristic Express lines are operated by CPTM and are intended to preserve the history of the railroads in São Paulo. Employing original restored passenger cars from the 1950's, services are provided from Luz station to Jundiaí, Mogi das Cruzes and Paranapiacaba. Trips are offered at the weekends and tickets shall be bought in advance.

Regular Intercity Service
Intercity buses are operated by private companies and managed by EMTU. The lines link all cities in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.