São Paulo state will obtain a US$168 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to purchase new trains and systems as well as finance technical studies to expand its public transportation system in the southern part of the city, where most of the low-income population lives.
The IDB loan will finance the purchase of eight new trains that will serve the Line 9 urban train system, in the fast growing Berrini region. The facility will also help modernize and expand signaling, electricity and telecommunication systems for the line and finance part of studies to build and operate the extension of the Line 5 subway. The project will better integrate public transportation of the city’s south with the central region, where most of the jobs are located.
The new eight-car trains will replace older units and help increase capacity by 50 percent by 2011 in Line 9. The line is 24 kilometers long and links the city of Osasco with Jurubatuba, a neighborhood in the southern part of the capital. The new cars will cut by half waiting time for passengers to 3 minutes from 6 minutes today during peak hours.
“The waiting time for train customers will be very similar to the subway system,’’ said Vera Vicentini, team leader for the IDB loan project. “The investment will help Line 9 support an increase in demand for the coming years’’
Demand for Line 9, one of São Paulo city’s busiest train lines, is set to increase 23 percent by next year to 170,000 passengers daily after the state expands service to Grajaú neighborhood. The line is expected to carry 420,000 passengers daily by 2010, after the subway’s Line 4 opens. The new cars will begin service in 2010 and will be fully operational in 2011.
Line 5
The facility will also be used by São Paulo state to finance engineering, environmental and economic impact studies to expand its Line 5 subway, which will link Largo Treze and Chácara Klabin stations. The expansion will add 11.6 kilometers of new tracks and another 11 stations, allowing passengers to connect to Line 2 subway, also known as Green Line, which will take them downtown. Demand for Line 5, which now has six stations and 8.4 kilometers of tracks, is expected to jump seven-fold to 653,000 passengers per day from the current 91,000 after the expansion is completed.
The IDB loan is part of a US$241 million state plan to improve public transportation in the southern part of the metropolitan area of São Paulo, where much of the low-income population lives. About 64 percent of Line 9 passengers have household incomes of up to four times the country’s minimum wage.
The IDB facility will finance 70 percent of the total cost of the project and it will be denominated in U.S. dollars and mature in 25 years. The loan will have a grace period of 4.5 years and charge the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor).
The Bank’s support for São Paulo’s public transportation system began 15 ago, when it granted a loan to help fund the construction of the first section of the Line 5 subway linking Capão Redondo with Largo Treze, in service since 2002. The facility also allowed the state to improve 15 kilometers of Line 9 tracks, build seven stations and purchase five new eight-car trains for the line.
The IDB is also supporting other initiatives by the state to improve its public transportation system. The Bank approved in May a US$128.9 million syndicated loan for Concessionária da Linha 4 do Metro de São Paulo SA.
The Bank has also approved two technical-cooperation agreements to help authorities develop a way to certify reductions in greenhouse emissions resulting from an expansion of the mass transit systems.
Key Facts About the São Paulo City Public Transportation
- 39 million trips are taken every day in the São Paulo metropolitan region
- 30 percent of the population uses the public transportation system
- 78 percent of trips using public transportation are made by bus, 14 percent by subway and 8 percent by train
- 78 percent of metro trips, 61 percent of train trips, and 16 percent of bus trips involve at least one transfer.
- Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos manages urban trains, which carry 1.6 million passengers daily
- Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo manages the subway system, which carries 2.7 million people daily