Line 5-Purple: the redemption of São Paulo’s South Zone

Initiative that will increase the offer of mass transport in São Paulo will engage the simultaneous operation of three Shield TBMs in its construction

The starting flag is down for work to begin on the expansion of the São Paulo Metro’s Line 5-Purple. The São Paulo State government authorized, on July 1st, the beginning of assembly of the EPB (Earth Pressure Balance) Shield - a keystone in the initiative. On that day, the cutting wheel of the tunnel-boring machine (TBM) – referred to locally as the “megatatuzão” (Portuguese for ‘mega-armadillo’) - was lowered into the pit on Avenida Bandeirantes. The TBM will be used for the excavation of tunnels for the Capão Redondo Chácara Klabin segment of the Metro line. The equipment will drill a tunnel from the Bandeirantes pit, in the region of the Campo Belo borough, to the pit on ‘Rua Dionisio da Costa’, in the region of the Chácara Klabin borough, passing through the Eucaliptos, Moema, AACD-Servidor, Hospital São Paulo, Santa Cruz and Chácara Klabin stations. This tunnel will also enable linking (transfers) to Line 1-Blue at the Santa Cruz station, and Line 2-Green at the Chácara Klabin station.

More than signaling the beginning of work on a great project of infrastructure, the event was an emblematic milestone: the works of expansion of Line 5 represent the possibility of social inclusion through mobility of one of the most densely-populated and neglected regions of São Paulo: the region of Campo Limpo and Capão Redondo. This region is ‘orbited’ by the borough of Jardim Angela, which was once considered by the United Nations (UN) to be one of the most violent areas in Brazil – a situation that has been reversed thanks to numerous social projects that were implemented there.

Even so, it is still one of the most isolated areas of the capital city and a region which depends on a single main artery – the ‘Estrada do M’Boi Mirim’ whose capacity is exhausted – to enable the movement of its population which is estimated to be some 300,000 people.

The expansion of Line 5 all the way to Jardim Ângela was a promise made by state governor Geraldo Alckmin, shortly after intense demonstrations in June of this year for greater quality in public transportation, who also promised the expansion of the Estrada do M'Boi Mirim – a commitment that was assumed by São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad as well.

This is the second stage of construction of the São Paulo Metro’s Line 5. The first stage has already connected Capão Redondo to Largo 13 in the district of Santo Amaro, and later to Line 9 of metropolitan trains operated by the ‘Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos’ (CPTM – São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company). But only after the opening of Line 4-Yellow, which crosses the borough of Pinheiros, is that users of Line-5 (which was long referred to as a line that linked nothing to nowhere) could access the other lines of the Metro. To give you an idea, from 2010 to 2012, there was an increase of 60% in the average number of users of Line 5 per weekday, which grew from 166,000 to 265,000 passengers. Even so, users were still dissatisfied. And no wonder, they resent the difficulty they face in accessing the center of São Paulo via the connection of Line 5-Purple to the CPTM’s Line 9- Emerald (at the Santo Amaro station) which, in turn, makes the connection between the Metro’s Line 4-Yellow in the region of Pinheiros.

The expansion of Line 5-Purple will ensure, among its other merits, the benefit of reducing the time it takes a passenger to travel from the city’s South Zone to the center of São Paulo by about one hour. Line 5-Purple will connect to Line 2-Blue at the Santa Cruz station, and to Line 3-Green at Chácara Klabin. The segment will add another 11.5 km and 11 stations to the existing stretch of 8.5 kilometers and six stations between Capão Redondo and Largo 13.

The proposed expansion, according the government, will enter the tendering phase for project contracting and the establishment of forms of funding. Initially, this expansion is expected to be 3.7 km long and cost an estimated R$ 2 billion (US$ 1 billion). According to Metropolitan Transportation Secretary Jurandir Fernandes, these new stations should be built as public works. “As regards Line 5, since it is already operating it’s not in our best interest to resort to a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with private capital. The best thing to do is to simply go right ahead with it, all of it, as a project built and operated by the Metro”, he justified.

Investments in this first stage of expansion reach up to R$ 6.9 billion (US$ 3.45 billion) –made up of funding by the State Treasury and financing secured with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The project also has R$ 1.958 billion (US$ 1 billion) in funding provided by the ‘Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social’ (BNDES - National Bank for Economic and Social Development ) which targets, as a priority, the execution of civil works for ‘Lots 2 to 8’ of the line’s expansion. The expansion includes the construction of stations, tunneling, construction of the maintenance yard and train-parking area, and the purchase of 26 new trains.

Work on the expansion of Line 5 began in 2009 and was scheduled for delivery in 2013. But the project had to address accusations of irregularities and delays in expropriations. According to Governor Geraldo Alckmin, the new segment is expected to be fully operational by the first half of 2016. The Adolfo Pinheiro stretch is scheduled for delivery next year (2014) with ‘guided tests’ to be carried out as early as November of this year.

Three TMBs

One of the distinctions of the expansion of the Metro’s Line 5-Purple is the simultaneous operation of three shield machines (TBMs) which should significantly accelerate the process of excavation. The goal is to speed up the works. This will be the first time in the history of the construction of São Paulo Metro that three shields will be used simultaneously. The first one, nicknamed the “megatatuzão” (or mega-armadillo) is being assembled in the Bandeirantes excavation site in the region of Campo Limpo, where it will undergo testing and be deployed for operation in August.

The mega TBM is the same equipment that was used in the drilling of the tunnels for Line 4-Yellow. But it has been adapted due to the increased diameter of the line. Today, the shield weighs 1.5 thousand tons and its new excavation diameter is 10.58 meters (compared to 9.41 m for the Metro’s Line 4-Yellow). With this TBM, according to Metro management, you can drill 12 to 15 meters per day and dig a length of over 4.8 km of tunnels with the installation of 3,241 concrete rings for support.

Just for an idea of the size of the equipment, the shield has a mess hall, nursing cabin, conveyor belt for removal of excavated material, plus a control cabin and auxiliary equipment. That means 180 people just to run it; 50 on duty for each work shift and 30 workers to provide support services.

The other two shields will also be deployed in the Bandeirantes pit between August and September. The TBMs were built in Germany by Herrenknecht, and transported by ship to Brazil. Transportation of the equipment to the construction site, in the region of Santo Amaro, has been carried out gradually. These two boring machines will tunnel in from the opposite direction toward the mega-TBM between the future Adolfo Pinheiro and Campo Belo stations. For safety reasons, they will depart one month apart from each other.

The shield is the most modern and safest equipment for the excavation of tunnels and it uses the system of boring known as ‘Earth Pressure Balance’ which compensates for the pressure exerted by the layer of soil and the water table. It enables the automatic installation of the concrete rings that line and act as the structure of the tunnel. Thus, the land through which the tunnel passes is never left without support. Thus, minimum settling of soil is expected, which does not compromise the structure of properties in the vicinity of tunneling work. The Metro maintains a monitoring system to ensure that property structures are not compromised.

Line cuts busy thoroughfares

The implementation of Line 5-Purple, with the Guido Caloi equipment yard, was divided into eight lots comprising different segments accompanied by two teams of Environmental Supervision personnel (teams I and II), as established in the ‘Terms of Reference’ by the ‘Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo’ (CMSP - São Paulo Metro Company). One team is in charge of overseeing the construction of the Stations and Pits and the other team is focused on the construction of tunnels and the permanent way.

According to Walter Ferreira de Castro Filho, director of engineering at the São Paulo Metro, 34 work fronts have already been opened. And, by the end of the year, the project is expected to establish 42 simultaneous work fronts. The goal, according to Castro Filho  is to submit the first part, which includes the stretch from Adolfo Pinheiro to Campo Belo, to testing as of 2015. “Soon after that, there are a set of keys that allow maneuvering within the line. The trend in major subway lines like this one is to never start up the entire line at once, since there is a technical difficulty in enabling all the stations at the same time,” he says.

The engineer points out that this is the longest stretch ever implemented by the Metro after a substantial period of time without building new lines - both the construction and operation of Line 4-Yellow were assigned to private companies. Therefore, the use of the shield machine for the entire length of the line represents a historical element for the company. “It will be the longest stretch ever made by the Metro with the use of a shield – from the Adolfo Pinheiro site to Chácara Klabin,” says the director. “Not incidentally, on account of the accident that occurred in the construction of Line 4-Yellow as well, we are employing every possible existing and complementary monitoring mechanism in performing this job so as to avoid any type of surprise,” said the engineer.

He refers to the accident on January 12, 2007 during the construction of the Pinheiros Station in the expansion of Line 4. The pit that provided access to the works, with about 40 m in diameter, collapsed engulfing several houses, three cars, three trucks and a minibus that was passing along the way. Seven people died as a result of the accident.

One of the main difficulties in carrying out the project, according to Walter Ferreira de Castro Filho, is intervening in areas of intense traffic such as the region of Santo Amaro, Ibirapuera and Santa Cruz. “Whenever possible, we choose to dig the pits off the busy thoroughfares, but that isn’t always possible since the ditches are long and wide, as in Campo Belo for example which is in the middle of the Santo Amaro Avenue where it intersects with Roberto Marinho Avenue,” he says. In this area, an overpass will be built and there will be a connection with the Line 17-Gold monorail. “This will be the largest station along Line 5, which should solve the traffic problem in the region,” he says.

Difficulties also arise at the Borba Gato station where the facility encroaches on a portion of the avenue, as well as the Brooklin and Campo Belo stations. The Eucaliptos station will have part of its structure under the road. At the São Paulo station, where we find the group of Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo) facilities and Hospital São Paulo, the station is fully underground. The Santa Cruz station, in turn, where the pit is nearing completion, interferes substantially with traffic. The station will involve conventional excavations with the opening of trenches for the connections of two lines and the connections between the different accesses that are planned.

Castro Filho reminds us that Line 5 of the Metro is being called the ‘Hospital Line’, since it will afford access to the major hospitals in the city, such as Hospital Santa Cruz, Hospital São Paulo (Unifesp) and Hospital do Servidor Público, in addition to facilitating access to a large number of schools and colleges in the surrounding neighborhoods. The engineer is optimistic and believes that further progress will be possible in the construction of new Metro lines in the city, employing the technology of shields that enable greater speed of execution and innovating in the format of transportation systems, with the introduction of monorails.

"We have Line 5-Purple which is being extended, Line 4 with the completion of its stations and the new lines of monorails on which work is underway - one that will connect the borough of Morumbi to the region of  Congonhas Airport and one that will afford better access for those who need to travel from Vila Prudente to the Expresso Tiradentes. This line will be the monorail with the largest capacity in the world. We are studying the expansion of Line 2, from Vila Prudente to the region of the Dutra Highway, and the Metro also intends to reach Guarulhos and the ABC region. There are also studies for an extension along Avenida Faria Lima. Not to mention the PPP for the construction of Line 6, which will connect the São Joaquim station to Nova Cachoeirinha, passing by several colleges along the route,” says the director of the São Paulo Metro.

According to Walter Ferreira de Castro Filho, everything seems to indicate that we will have another seven Metro lines under construction in the future. “We are using two shields on Line 5 and we may deploy two more in other works. There are suppliers who are already foreseeing leasing contracts, since most tunnel excavations will tend to use this method from now on. It takes four to five years to build a line. Thus, we will have work at least through 2018 and other projects to be announced with investments that will reach R$ 20 billion (US$ 10 billion), considering metros and monorails. I think this is the best way to meet the growing demand for transports in the city of São Paulo. With the refurbishing of metropolitan trains, they can also provide comfort similar to that of Metro lines.  Along with buses, this is the best way to meet the demand for transports in the city,” he analyzes.

Concrete ring factories

Line 5 already had an equipment yard in the region of Capão Redondo, serving the segment that is in operation. With the expansion, a new yard is being built - the ‘Pátio Guido Caloi’ in the region of the Pinheiros River; second in area only to the yard in Itaquera. The Guido Caloi yard will have an area of over 176,000 m2 (equivalent in size to 25 official soccer fields – 65m x 108 m). The forecast is that the new yard will be ready in 2015 and the total value of the works is around R$ 297 million (US$ 148.5 million).

Block A of the Guido Caloi yard will have 16,135 m2 of constructed area, with 648 piles driven to structure the complete foundation of this building. When completed, this block will be able to simultaneously receive eight trains for heavy maintenance and eight trains for simple maintenance. The future ‘Pátio Guido Caloi’ will have repair shops for undercarriages, electromechanical systems and administrative areas which will be divided into 28 blocks. There will also be an access loop (right after the Adolfo Pinheiro station), 5,650 meters of ways and parking for 26 trains, with the possibility of receiving another 24 trains in the future.

To date, 95% of the required earthworks for the installation of the Guido Caloi yard have been executed. The total area to be built will be 43,000 square meters. The equipment yard has already received the facilities of two factories to make the concrete rings that will feed the shields. Production of the rings began three months earlier to ensure a sufficient supply for the operation of the TBM Shields when they start to operate.

Natural lighting and ventilation

The architectural concept of the stations on Line 5-Purple, in the segment between the Adolfo Pinheiro Avenue and Chácara Klabin, is particularly distinctive for the functional and aesthetic use of spaces resulting from the very methods that are employed in their excavation and construction. Thus, the openings themselves between the levels of circulating in the station will be explored, enabling the maximum utilization of natural ventilation and lighting to maintain the wholesomeness of the underground spaces. This condition that enables openings between deeper areas and the surface also incorporates concepts of sustainability making it possible to reduce the consumption of electricity. The stations along the segment have different volumetric characteristics which are determined by their location, operational requirements and the method of construction employed.

The Cut-and-Cover (open-trench) construction method was used in two configurations: rectangular trench or multiple pits. That choice enabled the establishment of a lower mezzanine on the first level where one can find the turnstiles, ticket offices, operational support rooms, escalators and elevators for access to the boarding platform. Also on this level and in the ‘non-ticketed’ area there is the connection to the secondary access via a crossing tunnel beneath the road on the surface, allowing free, safe and full access of the region to the station. The Adolfo Pinheiro, Brooklin and Campo Belo stations are examples of the application of the multiple pit method, while the Borba Gato, Alto da Boa Vista, Ibirapuera, Moema and Servidor stations are examples of the application of the Cut-and-Cover method.

In the stations that are built by digging pits or a trench that connects to the core of the station via a tunnel, the architectural project uses the central space that results from the excavation for the installation of vertical circulation equipment and the establishment of openings in the intermediate floors of circulation to allow for natural lighting and ventilation of the deeper levels of the station. The Vila Clementino, Santa Cruz and Chácara Klabin stations are examples of the application of these concepts.

For the main accesses, the architectural design approach capitalizes on the characteristics of the coverings made of a spatial hemispherical metal frame with translucent closure and skylights that are distributed linearly in the areas of intervention, to constitute the main elements of urban plazas designed atop the closing slabs that constitute the main body of the station.

Safety with technology

The new line will already have the Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system which is used in the subways of Madrid, London, New York, Paris and Singapore. This is a system of automated control that ensures the safe operation of railway vehicles using data communication between various control elements that make up the system.

The supplier of the CBTC train control system for the Capão Redondo and Chácara Klabin segment will be Bombardier. The system, which the company calls Cityflo 650 ATC, will allow the trains of Line 5-Purple to circulate safely at intervals of just 75 seconds. Metro studies indicate that this segment may be the busiest in the São Paulo’s Metro network in mid-2020.

Line 5-Purple will also include other innovations that are already in use in Line 4-Yellow, such as automatic gates that control the flow of passengers through the platforms and ensure the punctuality of the trains on Line 4 – the first line to use the ‘conductorless’ system of operation. The 26 new trains of Line 5 - provided by CAF, a Spanish company - will have a smoke detection system and automatic sprinklers. “We are employing the very latest in modern technology, such as an air conditioning system, smoke detectors and a water-mist fire suppression system,” says the engineer.

Line 5 was first conceived as a modern railway extension

Line 5 was originally envisioned as a project of the São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company (CPTM), so it was conceived as a railway line. “There was already an objective at that time to offer users of the railway lines the same quality they had in the Metro,” said the railway engineer who originally came from the CPTM where he had worked for over 30 years. The strategy at that time was that the CPTM would be responsible for transporting users in more distant regions, while the Metro world distribute users to central routes supported by the bus system – in view of its length, Line 5 fit the context of a railway line. “There was a great effort made by the state government to transform the CPTM railway system into a surface Metro. Line 5 was the first line conceived under this philosophy, which we helped to specify,” recalls Walter Ferreira de Castro Filho. The Line started at the extreme south of the city, but only the first segment was completed with the conclusion of works on the Capão Redondo equipment yard and the stations at Campo Limpo, Vila das Belezas, Giovane Gronchi, Santo Amaro and Largo 13.

The Metro company, in turn, had developed the old Line 6-Guaianases. Then, through a decision of the government, the arrangement was turned around: CPTM was assigned the Guaianases segment with the obligation to extend it, and the São Paulo Metro company was given Line 5. “It was then that we started designing this expansion, already adopting the 1.435 meter gauge, which is the most widely used worldwide. In other lines the gauge used is North American standard of 1.60 meters. The 1.435 m gauge is not what we could consider a global standard, but it is the standard used in the largest number of lines established worldwide. It will be the standard for the new Metro lines from now on,” Castro Filho tells us.

The models of trains to be used in the new line will enable operating without a conductor, but the director of the company makes it a point of saying that the company has not yet made a decision to make the line ‘conductorless’.