The Recife Metro (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Metrô do Recife'', Metrorec) is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system serving the

Metropolitan Region A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

Recife That it may shine on all (Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South Am ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It is operated by the federally-owned ''Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos (CBTU)'' and currently serves 29 stations, along of track. The system is complemented by two diesel-powered light rail lines with seven additional stations. In 2018, the combined system carried 102,089,000 passengers.

Characteristics

The contemporary metro, entirely aboveground, began construction in 1983, with funding from the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

. The metro consists of the Center Line (with two branches, Center-1 and Center-2) and the South Line, which all radiate outward from Recife station. The stations were designed to include various non-written means of identification, as the Northeast Region has a substantial rate of

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

(13.9% as of 2019). In addition to audio messages announcing the name of the stop, there are visual cues: a different color is used on the walls of every station, and stations are uniquely identified with

pictogram A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...

s, similar to the Mexico City Metro. Center Line trains leaving Recife station have one of two destinations: Center-1 trains run to

Camaragibe Camaragibe (population 156,736) is a city in northeastern Brazil, in the State of Pernambuco. It lies near Recife at 8.00° South, 35.04° West. Currently, Camaragibe is run by Nadegi Queiroz (from the political party Republicans) and Délio Junio ...

, while Center-2 trains serve

Jaboatão dos Guararapes Jaboatão dos Guararapes () is a city in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. It is a part of the Recife metro area. The population was 706,867 according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2020, making it the second most ...

. The two branches run on the same tracks between Recife station and Coqueiral station, reusing the route of an old railway track, where the metro system was built. The South line runs from Recife station parallel to the shore of the Atlantic. The average distance between stations is of so the typical speed of the train is , but the maximum speed is . The

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

is (

Irish gauge Railways with a track gauge of fall within the category of broad gauge railways. , they were extant in Australia, Brazil and Ireland. History 600 BC :The Diolkos (Δίολκος) across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece – a grooved pave ...

) and the trains are powered by

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

s. The system originally had a total of of route. After completion of the expansion of the network that occurred from February 2005 to March 2009, the metro grew to its current in length.

Diesel light rail

A long

meter gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, ...

() light rail network (, ''VLT'') is integrated with the metro system. Two light rail lines link the city of

Cabo de Santo Agostinho Cabo de Santo Agostinho (English: Cape of St. Augustine) is a 448 square kilometer sized municipality located 35 kilometers south of the city of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. It is believed by some historians that Vicente Yáñez Pinzón had set anc ...

with Recife and provide a connection between the Center-1 and South lines through the suburbs. The rail lines are not electrified, and use

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engi ...

vehicles. Terminology varies, with the CBTU and media referring to it both as the ''VLT'' and as the ''Linha Diesel'' ('Diesel line'), the name of the former heavy rail service.

Bus integration

The system also includes several

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines linked from the terminals of bus/metro integration designated ''SEI'' (''Sistema Estrutural Integrado'' - "Integrated Structural System") through which passengers may continue their travel on the same ticket.

Lines

Metro

The metro is built to a gauge of , (

). All three lines are elevated or at grade, and trains are powered by

s. † Center-1 and Center-2 lines share a significant amount of track. The precise length of each branch has not been published. *

Light rail

Metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, ...

( is used, in common with most other railways in Brazil. It is built

at grade AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

Rolling stock

File:Sta Matilde-MAN AG 800.jpg, TUE Série 800 File:Trem da CBTU, no Metrô do Recife.jpg, CAF 100 File:TUDH Bom Sinal Maceio-AL 27.06.2012 - ELIAS VIEIRA.png, TUDH BS Mobile 3, on a different system in Maceio File:Cajueiro seco.jpg, Locomotive at Cajueiro Seco station, in 2011

Stations

Notes

*SEI: integration with local buses *1: Center-1, Center-2 and South lines run together between Recife and Joana Bezerra stations *2: Center-1 and Center-2 run together between Recife and Coqueiral stations File:Cajueiroseco.jpg,

Pictogram A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...

for Cajueiro Seco () station, depicting a cashew apple File:Largodapaz.jpg, Pictogram for Largo da Paz () station, depicting a

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

File:Erecife.jpg, Pictogram for Recife station, depicting the former central railway station

Network map (excluding light rail)

References

External links

CBTU Recife
– official website * Parent company CBTU'
website
Contains links to other Brazilian urban rail systems
Photographic gallery
for the Diesel line (pictures taken at a "photographical excursion" involving several photo artists at 19 August 2009) {{Coord missing, Pernambuco Metro Rapid transit in Brazil Transport in Pernambuco Electric railways in Brazil