LRV arrives at Porto de Santos, São Paulo

The first trains of the Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) which will be used at Santos area, in São Paulo coast, arrived last Thursday (05/22) on a ship docked at Porto de Santos.
 
The ship Grande Buenos Aires, with Italian flag, arrived at Porto de Santos Wednesday (21) night but started to unload the LRV trains only by the morning. At around 7:30 am, the trains left the ship’s hold. The vessel also carries trains which will be destined to other cities in Brazil. The unloading operation shall take around three hours.
 
The trains came from Spain and the trip to Brazil took a month and a half. The ship left the Spanish port on April 7th. The train model is Tramlink, manufactured by Vossloh, containing seven cars and capacity for 400 engers. Beyond this one, other two shall be manufactured in Spain. The other 19, from the 22 referred on the contract, shall be manufactured in Brazil by T’Trans. The vehicles delivery schedule shall be finalized in August 2015.
 
On the total, 22 LRVs shall circulate on the sector between Esplanada dos Barreiros, in São Vicente, and the Port Terminal, in Santos. Each composition shall transport 400 engers, 72 sitting. The trip shall take 30 minutes between the two limit points of the route. The train will run silently over the track and might develop up to 70 km/h of speed, synchronized with the green lights of the traffic signal at interactions with other vehicles in the cities. LRV shall operate from 5 am to midnight and, during the time it won’t operate, shall be under maintenance. The LRV will be integrated to bus lines and bicycles racks.
 
The commercial operation of the first section is scheduled for early February. The initial tests should take place in July this year. In 2015, the population will be able to use the new mode of transport which will bring mobility to the region to over 2.5 million people.