São Paulo subway firm sets investment record

São Paulo state subway firm Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo set a record for investments in 2023, despite the figure being lower than the company had originally projected.

It invested 2.6bn reais (US$541mn) in projects last year, up from the 2.1bn reais reported in 2022, the firm said in a document on its annual budget.

Although that amount was a record, surpassing the previous record set in 2022, the investments were under the 3.5bn reais it had forecast for the year. 

Most of the investments, or 1.64bn reais, went on the expansion of line No. 2 - green, with 291mn reais going to the expansion of line No. 15 - silver and 208mn reais to line No. 17 - gold.  

In 2022, the expansion of line No. 2 was also the focus of the company's investments.

The subway firm has not yet announced its investment program for 2024, but the expansion of line No. 2 will likely receive a significant proportion of the total.

The project to extend line No. 2 to the Penha neighborhood and connect with line No. 3 - red had progressed 33.8% as of the end of 2023, up from 26.0% at end-2022.

A total 8.4 km of lines will be added, along with eight new stations: Orfanato, Santa Clara, Anália Franco, Vila Formosa, Santa Isabel, Guilherme Giorgi, Aricanduva and Penha. The expansion will make line No. 2 the longest in the subway system at 23km. 

Details of the company's investments in the metro system can be seen here, in Portuguese.