Transportation

Waiting for four stations

Trensurb is adding a 9.3-km extension to the Metro in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region and building three stations in Novo Hamburgo and one in São Leopoldo

written by: Cláudio Lovato Filho
photos by: Ricardo Chaves

Alziro Trentin, 69, is retired and lives in Novo Hamburgo, a town in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region. Since February 2009, he has kept a close eye on the daily progress of the works extending Line 1 of the Porto Alegre Metro. A passionate film buff, he has even produced a DVD on the project. “This is a historic event,” he says, speaking in his home on Assis Brasil Street in the Santos Dumont district, which is close to one of the work fronts. “This project will be hugely beneficial for the people who live here and commute to Porto Alegre.”

José Renato Mass, 49, is also thrilled. He lives in São Leopoldo and works as a carpenter for Consórcio Nova Via, the joint venture building the extension project. He worked in the footwear industry from 1981 to 1996, and after being fired from three jobs at three different companies, he decided to try a new line of work – construction. He started out as a bricklayer’s assistant and is now a carpentry supervisor. After working all over Brazil, he is currently on his home turf. “It’s great to be working so close to my family.”

These stories illustrate two aspects of the contribution that the metro extension project is making to Novo Hamburgo, São Leopoldo and other towns and cities in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region (see infographic). It is a project that local residents have been eagerly awaiting for over 10 years. Once it is up and running, it will make life easier for people who work in Porto Alegre and currently have to endure traffic jams on the saturated BR-116 route. It will also help give a boost to the local economy, which is currently in the process of recovery, by directly creating 1,200 jobs and attracting all kinds of businesses, including the real estate industry.

Line 1

Ground was broken in February 2009, and the BRL 700-million project is scheduled for completion by December 2011. A joint venture of Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez, Toniolo Busnello and T’Trans, Consórcio Nova Via is responsible for civil construction works and operational systems. Its teams began building a road bridge (238 m) and metro bridge (195 m) across the Sinos River in May. They will be completed by January and April 2010.

A factory at the jobsite



“I know how important it is to have a metro system,” says Marco Arildo da Cunha. He is the President and CEO of Trensurb (Empresa de Trens Urbanos de Porto Alegre), the company through which the Federal Government (Cities Ministry) operates the metro. His words are based on personal and professional experience. He joined Trensurb in 1985 as a train operator after taking a competitive exam, and is the first career employee to become president of the company. His wife, Maria Salete, who also started out as an operator, is the company’s operations controller. “Residents of Novo Hamburgo and São Leopoldo will have several advantages,” he says. They include higher property values and the creation of newly developed areas in towns and cities, as well as integrating their towns into the public transport system of Greater Porto Alegre with a modern means of transportation.

Federal Cities Minister
Márcio Fortes, another metro enthusiast, was one of the main proponents of including this project in the Federal Government’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), which guaranteed its budget and financing. “We are making up for lost time with unprecedented speed, releasing funds as they are needed,” he explains, underscoring the rapid pace of the work since day one. “By extending the metro, we will free up BR-116, make it easier to get to the airport and provide better conditions for shipping products from the Sinos Valley to market, especially footwear.”