Officials tour Brazil’s first monorail

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Brazil’s first monorail system, São Paulo’s Silver Line, has been publicly unveiled to city and state officials.

The 27-kilometre automated line, which will be completed in several phases, will boast the world’s largest and highest capacity monorail in the world, moving 48,000 passengers an hour in each direction, according to the city’s municipal government.

Governor Geraldo Alckmin toured one of the new seven-car trains yesterday (October 30).

“It takes 15 buses from the street, carrying up to 1,000 passengers. Totally silent, electric and clean, it’s fast, reaching 80 kilometre per hour, it offers comfort, safety and high-tech,” said Alckmin.

Photo: Edson Lopes Jr. - Governo do Estado de São Paulo.
Photo: Edson Lopes Jr. РGoverno do Estado de Ṣo Paulo.

Based on the INNOVIA monorail design, each of the new Bombardier-built monorail trains feature walk-through carriages and are equipped with a magnet motor propulsion system which is quieter and more efficient than conventional monorail engines.

Four bi-directional trains will operate on the first 2.9-kilometre section of the line between Ipiranga Hospital and Cidade Tiradentes, which is expected to open in January 2014.

In total, 54 trains will operate on the Silver Line once the entire $6.4 billion system, spanning 18 stations across the city, opens in 2015.

Although much of the manufacturing process is being carried out at a site in Hortolândia, the engineering, design and testing was carried out in Canada and the first few carriages were built in Pittsburgh, USA.

2 COMMENTS

  1. The first few “carriages” were not built in Pittsburgh, but in Canada. I helped design these and assisted with the first car builds in Hortolândia.

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