The line will be the first in the São Paulo metro system to connect directly with an airport: Congonhas; Initial operation will be partial, from 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday
The Line 17-Ouro monorail, which connects the subway to Congonhas Airport, in the south zone of São Paulo, will be opened this Tuesday (31). The work seeks to resolve a historical mobility bottleneck in the capital of São Paulo, by create a quick connection to the flight terminal.
The expansion of the rail transport network has been highlighted by experts as a demand in front of worsening traffic and the impact of pollution caused by cars, which worsens the climate crisis.
The monorail will connect Congonhas to lines 5-Lilás (at Campo Belo Station) and 9-Esmeralda (Morumbi). Line 17 will open with seven stations: Congonhas, Brooklin Paulista, Councilor José Diniz, Campo Belo, Vila Cordeiro, Chucri Zaidan e Morumbi.
Initially, the operation will be partialcom reduced hours e longer interval between trains. For now, the monorail will not open on weekends. Transport will initially operate from 10h to the 15hfrom Monday to Friday – including Good Friday.
When it reaches full operation, the expectation is to transport 93 thousand passengers per day. Initially, there will be no ticket charge. Then the value will be R$ 5,40as on other metro lines.
Delays in work
The work leaves the paper twelve years after the promised delivery time. Originally planned to reach Morumbi Stadium and Jabaquara Station, the monorail will run from airport to Morumbi Station from CPTM.
Originally, the monorail was announced in January 2010, as one of the works for the 2014 World Cup. The plan was to build 18 stations between Congonhas and the Morumbi Stadium to facilitate the journey for fans and tourists.
Afterwards, the World Cup organization exchanged Morumbi for the Corinthians stadium, in Itaquera, to host the football matches. The works lost federal funding and, after 2014, the construction companies responsible were still affected by Operation Lava Jato.
São Paulo Metro terminated the contract with the construction companies in 2016. Work stopped for years, and the impact of Lava Jato on the sector made new hiring difficult.
The work only resumed in 2020 and, even then, it went through new changes of companies and stoppages. “We had problems with several contractors and we overcame these challenges,” Roberto Rodrigues, director of Engineering and Planning at Metro, told Estadão.
Geraldo Alckmin’s team, PSDB governor at the time of the monorail promise, says that the deadline was set by listening to the market and that Lava Jato impacted the financial conditions of the sector. Currently Alckmin (PSB) is vice-president of the Republic.
In 2010, the 18-station project was budgeted at R$2.9 billion (around R$7.1 billion in values adjusted for inflation), which would be divided between the federal, state and municipal governments.
The total cost of this first stage of the work, which will be delivered this Tuesday, was R$5.97 billion. According to the State government, the current value includes structures that will meet the line and expenses of the frozen contracts.
Plan for ten more stations
Congonhas Station is on the other side of Avenida Washington Luís from the airport. So that passengers did not need to cross the pedestrian crossing, a tunnel that gives access at the entrance to the flight terminal.
Metro claims that there is still intention to build the other ten stopscompleting the stretch to the stations São Paulo-Morumbifrom Line 4, on one side, and up to the Jabaquarafrom 1-Azul, on the other.
The government plans to contract the technical design for four new stations this year: A challenge, Paraisópolis, Américo Maurano e Vila Paulista. The expectation is to start construction in 2029with a preliminary estimate of delivery in 2031.
Unlike buried transport (built under the earth), the monorail runs on beams 15 meters high. It does not move on iron rails (which exist in the subway and CPTM), but on rubber tireswhich rest on the concrete beams. It is from this single beam that the name monorail (single track) came about.
Second monorail line in the city
The line will be second in the state with monorail technology. The first was the 15-Talkin the east zone, opened in 2014. The mode consists of a train with electric traction, supported by tireswhich moves on a concrete beam, with side wheels for stabilization.
The two monorails have trains from different brands: 15 are from Canadian Bombardier and French Alstomwhich have been on the market for years. Already 17 compositions were provided by the Chinese BYD – the automaker’s first monorail project outside of China.
17 trains are smaller, about 60 metros. Those on the Silver Line measure approximately 90 metros – a conventional metro, on the other hand, has around 130 metros. The maximum capacity of the Congonhas monorail train is 616 passengers.
The 15-Silver monorail, in the east zone, has experienced failures in recent years, such as collision between trains e falling concrete pieces on the street. According to Metro, both monorails are safe.
“Learning from one line is always taken to another”, says Rodrigues, director of Metrô. “These are different projects, from different contractors, from different suppliers.”
One of the changes was in the suspension technology. The new cushioning system with air pockets promises more softnesssince one of the main complaints about the east zone monorail was the vibration.
“The 15 train was shaking a lot, due to a problem on the track and the type of train suspension. Our suspension provides better stability”, says Alexandre Barbosa, technical director at BYD Skyrail.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
