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São Paulo Metro

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The interior of a metro station in São Paulo
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The interior of a metro station in São Paulo

The São Paulo Metro (Portuguese: Metropolitano de São Paulo, commonly called Metrô) is the city of São Paulo's rapid transit system. The first such system in Brazil, it began operations in 1974. AlthoughSão Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of nearly 19 million, its metro system is relatively small (approximately 60 kilometers of track) when compared to its European or North American counterparts.

As of 2005, it consisted of four color-coded lines: Line 1 - Blue, Line 2 - Green, Line 3 - Red and Line 5 - Lilac, serving a total of 54 stations. The metro system carries 2,800,000 persons a day. Metro itself does not cover all of the urban area. Another company, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), works along the metro system and runs railways converted into metro, which total six lines (A, B, C, D, E, and F), about 250 km long, serving 92 stations. Metro and CPTM have integration between their stations. Metro and CPTM each operate as a government company, and have received awards in the recent past as the cleanest system in the world.

Metro logo
Metro logo

CPTM logo
CPTM logo

The first line, Norte-Sul (North-South), later renamed "blue line", and then Line 1 – Blue, began operations on September 14, 1974. That was after an eight year gestation period that began in 1966, under mayor Faria Lima.

Outside the Consolação Metro station in the Avenida Paulista
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Outside the Consolação Metro station in the Avenida Paulista
Expansion on the metro includes new lines. In late 2004, efforts had begun on a US$ 1 billion, 12 km all-underground line, Line 4 – Yellow, with ten stations, transporting almost a million people per day. By 2004, line 2 was also being expanded, with three new stations due to open by 2006. A 10 km expansion of the Line 5 and construction of a 10 km airport express line are in the short-term plans as well. The plans also include revamping the CPTM heavy rail system, which will add several million passengers capacity into the system. It is expected that the São Paulo Metro and CPTM systems will carry about 7 million people on average week days by 2012, as opposed to today's 4 million (Metro: 2.5 million; CPTM: 1.5 million as of 2004).

Metro stations operate from 4:40 a.m. to around 12:00 a.m. As of 2006, tickets cost R$2.10 (about US$1.00). Integrated tickets which may be used on city buses are also available, and cost R$3.60 (about US$ 1.75).

List of Stations

Line 1 - Blue

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Line 1 - Blue
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Line 1 - Blue

Line 2 - Green

Line 3 - Red

Estação Sé - Linha 3 - Vermelha
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Estação Sé - Linha 3 - Vermelha

Line 4 - Yellow (Under Construction)

Line 5 - Lilac

Linha 5 - lilás

See also

External links

 


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