Metro SP should resume Track 4 work until April

The works of the Metro Track 4-Yellow second phase should begin in March or April. In this phase, five stations are included: Higienópolis-Mackenzie, Oscar Freire, Fradique Coutinho, São Paulo-Morumbi and Vila Sônia. Since the first three stops are in a stretch of the track that is already operating, there is a possibility of interruption of the train movement on weekends.

Companies that know how to work with a moving train are being hired. “If necessary, we can make some interruption, as we are currently doing in Vila Prudente-Sacomã axis,” said the State Secretary of Metropolitan Transportation Jurandir Fernandes, referring to tests of a new composition control system on Track 2-Green.

People who will benefit from the opening of these stations complain about the delay of the inauguration, scheduled for 2014. “The Track 4-Yellow has begun to be built in 2004. I think they could have finished the station here,” says Waldemar Bertolini, 69 years old, who owns a newsstand close to the future Oscar Freire Station. They say it will be the most beautiful metro station in Brazil.

The seamstress Maria Aparecida Bueno, 66 years old, lives in Penha, on the east, and works at Jardins, on the south. She regrets the fact that the works for the conclusion of Oscar Freire Station have been inactive for so long. Much of the station structure is ready, but the finishing is missing. “Without the station, we still have to a bus to reach another metro station.”

The real estate broker Ricardo Faidiga, 49 years old, agrees that the displacements would be faster, and he would avoid the crowded vehicles in the corridor of Rebouças Avenue. In addition, it will increase even more the value of the properties in the neighborhood.

Analysis. The government plans to submit next week to the World Bank, in the United States, the list of contractors qualified to the works on the Track 4 second phase. If the agency, which funds the project, approves it, the works would begin soon after. The bank has 30 days to evaluate the proposals and give its agreement. Metro said that the name of the companies can only be released after this step. The construction is budgeted at US$ 900.3 million.

The works are divided into two lots. The first includes the São Paulo-Morumbi, Fradique Coutinho (which would already be in an advanced stage), Oscar Freire and Higienópolis-Mackenzie Stations. The other covers the Vila Sônia Station and the extension to Taboão da Serra.