BRAZIL: The ViaMobilidade joint venture of CCR and RuasInvest has selected Alstom to supply 36 eight-car Metropolis trainsets for São Paulo suburban lines 8 and 9, which it is to take over from CPTM in January 2022 under a 30-year operating and maintenance concession.
The new trains for lines 8 and 9 will be built to the same design as the Series 9000 sets used by the state-owned operator on lines 12 and 13. They will have stainless steel bodyshells designed to last more than 40 years and be lighter than carbon steel equivalents to reducing energy consumption.
Each trainset will have a capacity of 2 600 passengers, with the doors and aisles configured for rapid passenger flows; there will be dedicated spaces for passengers with reduced mobility. There will be large windows, and passenger counting equipment, dynamic line maps, display screens, CCTV and fire detection and extinguishing systems. The fleet will be fitted with Alstom’s automatic train control equipment.
Manufacturing will be undertaken at Alstom’s factory at Taubaté in the state of São Paulo, where the company expects to invest in a new production line that will double the plant’s capacity and contribute to the creation of more than 500 direct jobs.
The order will support the state government’s plans to provide ‘safe, reliable and efficient’ public transport, and ‘reinforces Alstom’s position as a truly global mobility provider’ able to supplier products ‘calibrated for each customer’s needs’, said Pierre Bercaire, Managing Director of Alstom Brazil, on July 20.
Lines 8 and 9 carried more than 1 million passengers a day before the coronavirus pandemic. Line 8 Diamante runs for 41·6 km from Júlio Prestes to Amador Bueno, with 22 stations serving the municipalities of São Paulo, Osasco, Carapicuíba, Barueri, Jandira and Itapevi. The 32 km Line 9 Esmerala connects Osasco with Grajaú, with 18 stations in São Paulo and Osasco.
