New subway station: Vila Prudente, green line.

Good news for those using public transportation in São Paulo - and who does not use too. Last Saturday (21), the state government opened the doors of one more subway station, Vila Prudente, Line 2 - Green. Located at the Avenida Professor Luiz Inacio Anhaia of Melo, in the East Zone, the terminal is operating from 9:30 am to 3 pm, for free.

The ticket will begin to be charged from the first half of September, when the trains will circulate from 4h40 am to midnight. The escalators run at a speed of 0.75 meters per second - when there's nobody on them, the speed drops to 0.25 meters per second. The reason? Decrease energy expenses. For the same reason, the roof of the building is fully glazed. According to the calculations of the Metro company, the station will move 65,000 passengers every day. That number could grow even more in 2014, when is planned to finish line 15 - White, which will connect Vila Prudente to the Jardim Tiquatira, in the East Zone. 65 000 daily users will move from Terminal Vila Prudente

Inaugurated by the Governor Alberto Goldman and the Mayor Gilberto Kassab, this is the 59th Sao Paulo subway station. Other two should be open later this year: Butantã and Pinheiros, Line 4 - Yellow. For the next month is expected to interconnect the Green Line with the Station Tamanduateí, of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM). It will be possible, for example, to board in Santo André and reach the Avenida Paulista in just ten minutes - today, by bus and train, that same trip takes at least an hour.

If the deadlines will be meet,  Sao Paulo will have, in 2011, 71 km of subway track, 2 km longer than today. The investments of the state government in rail transportation, from 2007 to 2011, is of 23 billion reais. Located in an area of 14 000 square meters, the equivalent of two football fields, the Vila Prudente Station is one of the most modern of the network. The old turnstiles have given way to the automatic glass doors of 1.80 meters height. Built 30 meters deep, the platform for embarking and disembarking is sealed with glass walls that open only with the train has arrived, minimizing the risk of accidents.

Some numbers

• 3.3 million is the number of passengers using the subway every day
• 69 km is the capital's subway network
• R$ 23 billions is the planned investment of the state government, from 2007 until 2011, in order to extend the subway lines and the CPTM
• 142 Trains run in the Sao Paulo subway network

[source: daniel salles, veja sao paulo]