BRAZIL: Monorail Line 17 has opened offering a limited service in São Paulo, providing rail access to Congonhas Airport, and services have also started on Aeromovel peoplemover linking Guarulhos Airport railway station and the terminal buildings.
The initial 6.7 km section of monorail Line 17-Gold in São Paulo was inaugurated on March 31, no less than 12 years behind its original planned opening date. It links Congonhas Airport with Morumbi on suburban rail Line 9, serving seven stations.
An eighth station, Washington Luís, is under construction. It will be built on a branch south of Brooklin Paulista, and it is expected to open in June.
Preparatory works on Line 17 began in April 2012, and it was initially intended to open in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but the project has faced persistent problems with both procurement and construction.
Initially, Line 17 operates between 10.00 and 15.00, with headways between 7 and 14 min. Full service is expected to start in October 2026.
Line 17 is operated by concessionaire ViaMobilidade. The total cost of the first section was R$5.97bn.
‘Today we are not inaugurating the line, we are ending a cycle of delays’, said São Paulo State Governor Tarcísio de Freitas at the opening ceremony. ‘For years, we lived with a structure that consumed resources and remained idle. An idle project has no present value and does not help the citizen. We needed to take the lead and resolve this; we couldn’t live with delays and accept waste. We had to turn the page and restore trust. This government came to provide the solution. We are taking a big step today, with connecting Congonhas Airport to the system, making this network more connected.’
Extensions planned
Freitas told attendees that extensions would be built at both ends totalling 4.6 km, but did not specify timescales. A one-station southern extension would take the line from Washington Luís to Vila Paulista, and three more stations would be aded at the northern end of the line from Morumbi to Américo Mourano.
In the longer term, Line 17 is planned to cover a 17∙7 km corridor, linking Jabaquara on metro Line 1 to São Paulo-Morumbi on metro Line 4; this interchange would be north of the monorail’s current terminus, also termed Morumbi.
Contracts re-awarded
The original turnkey contract for Line 17 was awarded in 2011 to the Monotrilho Integração consortium, comprising major Brazilian contractors including Andrade Gutierrez, CR Almeida, Montagens e Projetos Especiais, and Scomi
Engineering.
However, due to significant delays, disputes, and contract terminations, parts of the project were later re-tendered. In 2020, the remaining civil works were awarded in several contract packages with the largest ending with Coesa Engenharia and Constran.
The initial rolling stock supplier, Malaysia’s Scomi Engineering also had its contract terminated in 2019, as it received a winding-up order from the Malaysian high court. Following a new tender, China’s BYD was selected to deliver 14 five-car trainsets from its SkyRail platform, as well as the CBTC supporting GoA4 automation, plus control systems and platform screen doors.
The vehicles feature onboard batteries, allowing them to travel up to 8 km independently in the event of a power failure.
Thales Group supplied telecommunications and passenger information systems, as well as CCTV.
Eight trainsets had been commissioned by late March, and a further three have been delivered to the Água Espraiada depot.
Operations are currently supervised by onboard staff, which is a standard procedure for new automated urban rail lines in São Paulo.
Pressurised air propulsion peoplemover
In the northeast of the conurbation, limited revenue services have started on the 2.7 km peoplemover line linking São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport terminals 1, 2 and 3 with the airport station on suburban rail Line 13.
Services started using one vehicle at the end of February with the second vehicle entering service on April 7.
The automated peoplemover uses the Aeromovel pressurised air propulsion technology. This is the third commercial use of the technology after Porto Alegre and Jakarta.
Marcopolo Rail supplied three two-car vehicles.
The line was designed, built, and is being operated by the AeroGRU consortium of local companies Aerom, TS Infraestrutura, FBS and Germany’s HTB Group.
The line operates from 16.00 to 00.00 , and AeroGRU expects the start of full revenue service with the last vehicle entering service later this year.