Two months behind schedule, one of the most awaited public transport services of recent years shall finally be inaugurated on Tuesday. At noon, the first stretch of the new Line 4 (Yellow Line) shall start commercial operation. With a distance of 4.9 km (3 miles), this stretch of line shall connect Paulista Station, on Consolação Street, and Faria Lima Station in Largo da Batata, in the neighborhood of Pinheiros.
During the first months, these two stations shall only be open at off-peak times, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. This reduced period of operation has been implemented so that the necessary adjustments may be made when the volume of passengers is still small – the ViaQuatro Consortium, who shall operate the line, estimates that during this period about one thousand people shall use the stations of Line 4 (Yellow Line). The expectation is that the operating hours shall be extended to match the standard of the whole metro network by September.
During the next few days – probably between one and three weeks – the users shall not need to pay for the trips on Line 4, which shall operate according to an assisted operation scheme. In this period, the connection with Line 2 (Green Line), through Paulista and Consolação stations, shall be closed to the public.
São Paulo had not had a new metro line for eight years. The work on Line 4 started in April 2004, and the original forecast was for the first phase of the line to be up and running by 2008. However, problems with the compulsory purchases of some properties and also the caving in of Pinheiros Station in January 2007, where seven people lost their lives, helped to delay the inaugurations.
In addition to Paulista e Faria Lima, two new stations are considered for opening until November – Butantã and Pinheiros. Between these two stations, Metro trains will run 15 meters below Pinheiros River’s bed. The government is committed to open República and Luz stations until April. 700 thousand passengers are expected to use these six stations daily. In the second phase, scheduled for 2012, there shall also be stations at Vila Sônia, São Paulo-Morumbi, Fradique Coutinho, Oscar Freire and Mackenzie-Higienópolis.
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