Monorail Line 17 in São Paulo was inaugurated by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas during a ceremony attended by officials and hundreds of residents from the southern part of the Brazilian city.
The newly opened section is 6.7 km long and features eight above-ground stations connecting Congonhas Airport to other central areas of the city, providing access to major business districts, the University of São Paulo, and densely populated areas in the eastern part of the city.
The stations are fully accessible, equipped with platform screen doors, bicycle facilities, and integration with bike lanes and bus terminals.
The walkways and the 60-meter tunnel connecting the station to the airport are also open to pedestrians, even those not using the monorail, during the same transitional operating hours.
The monorail line is operated by 14 new trains, designed for fully automated operation using a CBTC system. Each five-car train set has a capacity of 616 passengers and is equipped with air conditioning, LED lighting, surveillance cameras, fire suppression systems, and rubber-tyred propulsion. A key feature is the onboard batteries, which allow the trains to run up to 8 km in the event of a power outage.
The project also includes a new depot with a capacity of 39 trains.
The contract for the line’s construction was signed in 2020 with BYD SkyRail, which also delivered the 14 five-car trains.
Direct connection to the airport
Line 17 (also known as the Golden Line) provides direct access to Congonhas Airport – São Paulo and is integrated for the first time into the rail network, which spans 111 km.
Even during the transitional phase, with intervals of 7 to 14 minutes, the trains have been running at full capacity since the very first services, particularly at the Aeroporto Congonhas station, which is served by the new direct connection tunnel to the terminal.
São Paulo’s Monorail Line 17 connects Congonhas Airport to the subway network via Lines 5-Lilás (Campo Belo) and 9-Esmeralda (Morumbi), reducing travel times, reorganizing traffic flows on Avenida Roberto Marinho, and creating a new corridor for sustainable mobility in the southern area.
São Paulo’s Monorail Line 17 to be Extended
During the ceremony, Governor Tarcísio de Freitas officially announced the start of work to extend the line by an additional 4.6 km and four new stations, and work is currently underway on another 8.3 km of track, with eight elevated stations.
When completed, the line will have a total length of 17 km with 18 stations connecting the Morumbi district (in the southwest of the city) with the Jabaquara district (in the south of the city) and will have a daily capacity of 250,000.
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