Line 4 in São Paulo shall have a tunnel for train switching

Six years after it was first started and with a total of 12.8 km of tunnels already dug and completed last year, the São Paulo Underground Company (Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo – Metrô) shall now plan the drilling of the continuation of Line 4 (Yellow Line). This shall be an extension with a total length of 1.5 km as from the existing tunnel to access the Vila Sônia Yard, through to David Matarasso Street, in the neighborhood of Jardim Monte Kemel, in the West Zone of the Capital. This section shall be used for switching of the trains.

The choice of the company that shall carry out the technical studies and soundings of the soil so that the executive project of the new tunnel may be started shall be made today. According to the metro company, the tender shall also be used to establish the pre-qualification for the execution of all civil work of the second phase of the Yellow Line.

The São Paulo Underground Company (Metrô) plans to dig the new tunnel and also construct the five stations of the second phase of the line, namely Vila Sônia, São Paulo-Morumbi, Fradique Coutinho, Oscar Freire and Higienópolis-Mackenzie, by 2013. Previously, the forecast had been that the whole stretch would have been ready by 2012.

The Underground Company has also informed, in a note, that the construction of the tunnel is necessary to allow access to the station, as well as a new access to the Vila Sônia Yard and also the execution of train switching. It is important to point out that the work shall not in any way interfere with the operation of the stations of the first phase, says the company. The other stops on Line 4, namely Butantã, Pinheiros, República and Luz, shall be ready by next year. Faria Lima and Paulista Stations have been partially operational since May.

For the opening of this new tunnel, it shall be necessary to make the compulsory purchase of 42 properties, which were declared as being of public utility in 2005. During the digging process, there are plans to remove a total volume of 294.7 thousand cubic meters of earth, sand and stones.

Interconnection. The Vila Sônia Station of Line 4 shall interconnect the São Paulo Underground to a bus terminal. This bus terminal shall be situated between Francisco Morato Avenue and Eliseu de Almeida Avenue, parallel to Heitor dos Prazeres Street, right beside the switching yard for the trains serving Line 4.

There shall be an interchange between municipal and intercity buses and also the Underground. This shall be operated jointly by the Metropolitan Urban Transport Company (Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos – EMTU), a State Government company, and also by São Paulo Transporte (SPTrans), owned by the City Hall. The expected traffic is 600 buses per hour at peak times, with the capacity to serve some 45 thousand passengers per hour in the worse periods in the morning and in the afternoon.

The bus terminal shall hang over the Vila Sônia Yard of the underground, in areas that have already been taken over. This shall be a two-storey building. The upper level shall have the platforms for boarding and disembarking from city and metropolitan buses. The lower level shall contain space for user access and also for commercial outlets and other support services. At ground level, the Yellow Line train yard shall continue to operate, without any interference from the new building.

According to Pedro Serrano, professor of Constitutional Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), the division of such a wide-scope work project as this into several segments could be backed by the legislation, if the basic principle of economy for the State were respected.

The tender shall choose the company or the consortium that offers the lowest price. For a contract of 16 months to make the soundings and also study the type of soil where the tunnel is to be dug, this tender has an estimated value of R$ 1.7 million (€ 714.6 million). The first stage of the line, which included the digging of 12.8 kilometers of tunnels and the construction of six stations, has already cost more than R$ 2.3 billion (€ 966.8 million).