Line 2 of Belo Horizonte’s Metro will be restarted this year

Still talking about promises, the expansion of Belo Horizonte’s Metro shall be confirmed in March 31, when the Ministry of Cities promised to publish the list of selected proposals in PAC Mobility in Large Cities (Mobilidade Grandes Cidades). The disclose was foreseen for February 29 and, because of that, this delay already postponed about one month the budget’s release for starting the works. Still, Metrominas is working based on the optimist perspective of starting this year the works for Track 2, a 10.5-kilometer surface stretch that shall connect Barreiro to Calafate District, West region.

According to the State Secretariat for Transportation and Public Works (Setop – Secretaria de Estado de Transportes e Obras Públicas), works shall be performed with US$44.07 million (R$ 80 million) already contracted for Track 2 by Brazilian Urban Trains Company (Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos),currently managing Belo Horizonte’s Metro. Works were interrupted due to lack of resources. To complete the budget, Metrominas counts on US$550.96 million (R$ 1 billion) from Government General Budget (OGU – Orçamento Geral da União), US$413.22 million (R$ 750 million) of federal public financing plus US$661.15 million (R$ 1,2 billion) in resources from Prefectures of Belo Horizonte and Contagem, the State Governments and private partnerships.

Intended to be inaugurated in 2016, Track 2 shall occupy the domain area from the extinct Federal Railway Network (Rede Ferroviária Federal). The stretch is going to have seven stations – Barreiro, Mannesmann, Ferrugem, Vista Alegre, Salgado Filho, Amazonas and Nova Suíça, where shall have a branch connection with Track 1 – where seven trains will be traveling. “In Track 2, works will be faster to be done in theory. There are some bridges made in 2004”, highlights the coordinator of Metro’s project for the Prefecture of Belo Horizonte, Márcio Duarte. According to him, the construction shall not demand huge evictions, only the invader’s removal throughout the railway.

Besides the construction of Tracks 2 and 3, Metro’s expansion project in Belo Horizonte also foresees the expansion of Track 1, with 28 km connecting Vilarinho’s region, in Venda Nova, to Eldorado District, in Contagem. The goal is to expand the system for extra 1.5 km to Novo Eldorado District. “Trains shall also be entirely modernized, expanding the number of coaches, increasing the system’s average speed and quality by means of, for example, air conditioning installation”, affirms Duarte. Improvement works for Track 1 shall take place up to 2014.

Low risk to repeat what was made in São Paulo

In 2007, the City of São Paulo saw the land fall over the workers during the works of Pinheiros station, West area of the city. According to the experts, São Paulo’s subsoil, differently from Belo Horizonte’s, is formed by a large layer of alluvial sedimentary material, which demands more support when constructing tunnels. “In London, there is a mushy soil under the asphalt, an unstable sedimentary land and they construct the 19th century Metro anyway”, compares the Professor Doctor Edézio Teixeira de Carvalho.