BRAZIL: São Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin officially launched work on an 11·5 km extension of Metrô de São Paulo's 8·4 km Line 5 on July 23.An initial one-station extension from Largo 13 to Adolfo Pinheiro has been under construction using NATM since September 2009, and is scheduled for opening in 2013 at a cost of R$188m. The latest phase will continue this in further tunnels to Chácara Klabin, taking Line 5 to 20 km and 17 stations by 2015. Metrô de São Paulo has appointed Geodata to oversee civil works, and Bombardier is preferred bidder to supply CBTC signalling. CAF's Hortolândia plant is to supply 26 six-car trains from 2013 under a R$615m contract financed with a loan from IBRD. CAF has previously supplied 17 six-car trains to Metrô de São Paulo and is building 288 electric multiple-units for suburban operator CPTM, and said the latest order positions it as 'the leading train manufacturer in Brazil'. Meanwhile, Schalke has supplied two rail grinders ordered at a cost of R$41m for use on lines 1, 2 and 3, and Metrô de São Paulo has announced plans to begin procurement of 15 six-car trains for those lines. The contract for the Line 17 monorail was signed with the Monotrilho Integração consortium on July 30 after the state government approved a R$922m loan from BNDES, along with R$445m from Caixa Econômica Federal for the construction of metro Line 18. More...
