Line 4 almost done

A real estate agent suffered an attack of sincerity in the beginning of the decade when offering an apartment in Butanta, near the future Line 4 – Yellow to a senior member of Sao Paulo government.

Not knowing with whom he spoke, he made counter-propaganda of his business: “The neighborhood is very good. But I cant assure we actually will have a Metro here. We sold dozen of apartments talking about the metro station, and the years go by and nothing comes. Some people will complain with us, could you believe?”

After more than 50 years of study, more than 40 years of planning, 15 years of promises, almost six years of work and being the scene of the greatest tragedy in the history of the Sao Paulo Metro, line 4 is in the final section to be opened.

Seen by experts as the most important link of the rail network for at least the last three decades and as the best news of public transport in 2010,  stations are being finalized for a 3.6 kilometers section between Faria Lima and Paulista to be open to the public in two months.

The first two Korean trains are being tested in the courtyard of Vila Sonia. They should also make the first trial trip this week, according to ViaQuatro’s forecast (the consortium that will manage the line, the first under private management).

Last week, while São Paulo lingered with the consequences of flooding and traffic congestion, 30 feet below the asphalt the scene was very calm. Some workers were allowed to sleep on the underground line, which was a reason for fear and uncertainty when a crater on the work of the Pinheiros station left seven dead in January 2007, at the beginning of government José Serra (PSDB).

The passage of the train tracks still requires caution- boards limits the speed to 10 km/h. But the number of workers is not much like it was. It is possible to walk half a mile without seeing anyone.

The tunnels dug by “Tatuzão” and other machines of the ViaQuatro Consortium are done, and there already are stations with escalators, cameras and signs of the final destinations of the 12.8 km route: Vila Sonia and Luz.

Until the Pinheiros station, which delayed further after the crater, shows signs of interior finishing – it received pads on the walls. Like other three lines (Butanta, Luz and Republica), it will only be delivered in the second half of this year. By 2013, five more stations will be ready.

Delays to take Line 4 off the paper were repeated in recent administrations, including the present one, which promised to deliver it in the first half of 2009, after undertaking the work announced in 1995 by Mario Covas and started only in 2004 by Geraldo Alckmin.

The allegations have been many: the lack of money to difficulties with external funding and expropriations. According to the engineer Rogerio Belda, the political issue also contributed to that, even planned, or was not initiated before. “Everybody just wants to take what they can open in their management”.

Line 4 will have unique characteristics, such as automated trains without drivers.

The importance of the link (which will attract 700 000 passengers/day and its work has cost US$ 1.25 bn) is almost unanimity among technicals – up to be integrated with lines 1, 2 and 3. “For the first time there will be a network” said Belda. “The tracing is a guarantee of success”, says Claudio Senna Frederico, former state secretary.