São Paulo will inaugurate the first stretch of Metro Line 6-Orange on July 2, nearly two decades after the project was announced. Public service begins July 3 on six stations linking Freguesia do Ó, in the north zone, to Perdizes, in the west zone, based on single-source reporting from Folha de S.Paulo.
The line will operate in a testing phase until the end of 2026, with limited hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Only one entrance at each station will open during this assisted operation period, and passengers will not pay fares during the test phase.
A Deep Line
When complete, Line 6 will have nine of the ten deepest stations in São Paulo’s metro network. The deepest will be Itaberaba-Hospital Vila Penteado, at 65.71 meters (216 feet), roughly the height of a 24-story building. It is expected to open later in 2026.
For now, Água Branca will become the system’s deepest operating station, at 47.8 meters (157 feet). It will connect with Line 7-Ruby, part of the metropolitan rail network, and is among the stations entering service on July 3.
The full line is planned to run 15.3 km (9.5 miles) from Brasilândia, in the north zone, to Liberdade, in the central area. Once finished, it is expected to carry 633,000 passengers per day and make the end-to-end trip in 23 minutes.
Long Delays
Line 6 was announced in 2008 and initially promised for construction in 2010. Work effectively began in 2015, with delivery expected five years later, but the project stalled soon afterward and resumed in 2021 under the current concessionaire.
The project is budgeted at R$19 billion, roughly USD 3.65 billion at July 2 mid-market rates. It is São Paulo Metro’s first public-private partnership, a model in which a private company builds and operates infrastructure under a public contract. The concessionaire Linha Uni is building and will operate the line, with Spain’s Acciona leading the works.
The project also faced engineering setbacks. In February 2022, a crater opened on Marginal Tietê, a major expressway along the Tietê River, after a sewage pipe ruptured and flooded one of the tunnel-boring machines. That interrupted part of the work for seven months.
Political Timing
The first phase had been expected to open in October with eight stations. Folha reports that the inauguration of six stations was brought forward so Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, of the Republicanos party, could attend the ceremony before electoral rules begin barring candidates from such events on July 4. Tarcísio is seeking reelection.
Two more stations, Brasilândia and Itaberaba-Hospital Vila Penteado, are expected to open later in 2026. Most of the remaining section, from PUC-Cardoso de Almeida to Liberdade, is scheduled for 2027.
One exception is 14 Bis-Saracura, in Bela Vista, a central neighborhood with strong Afro-Brazilian historical significance. That station has no completion date because archaeological findings delayed construction until Brazil’s National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) recently cleared the site.
Engineers cited geology as a central reason for the delays. André Isper, president of São Paulo state transport regulator Artesp, told Folha that the line suffered delays especially related to geotechnical issues. Lúcio Matteucci, the line’s project director, said builders found underground conditions that differed from earlier geological studies and had to change the excavation strategy.
The initial service will use two trains running back and forth at about 30 km/h (19 mph), although the trains can reach nearly 90 km/h (56 mph). The six-station trip should take 19 minutes. The trains are designed for 2,004 passengers each and will eventually operate autonomously, though they will be manually driven during the assisted phase.