Sao Paulo Metro PHOTOS

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Here are some other photos I took on the Metro in Sao Paulo.  Unfortunately, due to safety concerns and the fact I'm not sure photography on the Metro there is legal, I only fired off a few quick shots, really just to get one decent shot of each type of equipment running, and didn't try for too much beyond that.  Perhaps if I had a compact digital with me which would have been more discreet, I could have tried a bit more, but due to customs regulations, I only took the DSLR.

Anyway, enough blabbing, here are the goods:

Original stock currently operating on Line 1-Blue and at one time also on Line 2-Green, built by Budd and modeled after BART stock (though the interior is far more like that of New York):



These trains have a half width cab, but as you can see, there is no railfan window (none of the other trains, which all have full width cabs, have RFWs either.  In fact, the trains in Sao Paulo don't even have bulkhead doors to allow passage to the next car in an emergency or windows allowing one to see into the next car.

Older Line 2-Green stock, built by Alstom:



Here is an interior shot (the older cars on Line 1 pictured above and on Line 3 pictured below have similar looking interiors:


Brand new Line 2 train, also built by Alstom, featuring automated annoucnements, strip maps to indicate the next station, CCTV for security, and air conditioning:


Also, for those of you familiar with the 125th/Broadway station in New York, I think I found its Brazilian cousin: Sumare on Line 2.  Like at 125th Street on the 1 line, Line 2 comes out into the open   to cross a valley along its route, and like on the 1 line, there is a   station in the crossing.  However, there are two differences between   125th and Sumare.  Firstly, the road above the   subway line remains above the subway line on a bridge, and secondly, the   valley isn't nearly as wide so the ends of the station are still   underground.  It does create a neat effect though while riding through.    Here are some photos of that station:









Original Line 3-Red train, built by Alstom:


New Line 3 train built by CAF, also featuring automated announcements, strip maps, CCTV, and air conditioning.  The strip maps also include Line 1 stations, so perhaps there are plans to have them run on Line 1 too.


I didn't ride Line 4 (which is only open weekday middays and only serving two stations on a limited schedule) or Line 5 (which currently doesn't connect to any of the other lines).

Maybe I'll go back to Sao Paulo someday.  The system is remarkably busy (as to be expected in a city of over 15 million people), though not very extensive considering the size of the city.  Service is frequent, even on weekends.  Passenger flow is fairly good overall, and several stations use the Spanish Solution to manage the crowds.  The Se station in the center of town is immense, and can handle 100,000 passengers per hour.  I felt safe riding the system, though as I said, didn't really want to be taking too many photos so as to not attract attention.  At the terminal stations I visited, turnarounds are very efficient and quick.  All and all, a nice system, and as I said, perhaps I'll be there again sometime.

[79MetroExtraMD]

Nice pics. The first pic sort of looks like the exterior of our Budd cars in Baltimore as well as somewhat like the Bredas in LA. Definitely can tell its a Budd.