China metro trains smooth journeys for Rio commuters

RIO DE JANEIRO — Mariana Moreira used to suffer a downtown traffic jam twice a week when she drove between home and the classroom.

She is happier now because a new metro line in the city has relieved her from the headache.

Line 4 of Rio Metro trains are now carrying her from Copacabana to Barra and back. They are comfortable rides, she said.

The compartments have “better air conditioning, more space and bright lights,” she said.

“It is more convenient now, I can read books and review lessons in the train instead of cursing the traffic. I even feel that the distance has already been shortened.

“I am aware that all the trains of Line 4 are manufactured in China, they are much more advanced than the old trains of Line 1 and Line 2,” she added.

Opened to the public before the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Line 4 has a total length of 16 kilometers and five stations. A one-way trip takes 13 minutes. All the trains used on the subway were produced by the Changchun Railway Vehicles Corp in northeast China, a subsidiary of China’s rolling stock manufacturer CRRC.

According to Daniel Habib, managing director of Rio Metro, Rio Metro’s cooperation with the CRRC started in 2009.

Both sides are satisfied with the result of their longtime partnership, he said, with Rio Metro impressed with in the Chinese company and its contract with the CRRC for the Olympic Games line.

“We found that the quality of the trains was beyond our expectation when the CRRC sent us their products in 2009,” said Habib.

“We thought there would be a rough time for these trains to get used to the local environment. Luckily, things went quite smoothly. Then we immediately decided to enlarge the cooperation.”

Habib expects more cooperation with China.

“We are going to build more subway lines in Rio. As long as the government starts the bid, I am sure that the CRRC will win and we will continue to work together,” he said.

Mi Xue, sales manager of the Brazil Railway Equipment and Service Corporation under CRRC Changchun, said her company has two projects in cooperation with the Rio Metro, including making 34 trains, 15 of them for Line 4.

The company, which officially started operation in Brazil last year, is striving to expand its business to other states of Brazil.

“Based on the success in Rio, we are now looking at the whole market of Brazil. The market of the railway in Brazil is almost blank as subways are far from being in common use,” Mi said.

will be built by CRRC Changchun to be used on the Rio metro network after agreement on two projects