Teresina Metro
The Teresina Metro in Teresina, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Piauí, is a diesel light rail line operated by Companhia Ferroviária e de Logística do Piauí. It is long with 12 stations and serves a daily ridership of about 8,000.
History
First plans came up in 1978 and have been overhauled several times. To reduce the costs of the system, the project uses the existing metre gauge rail line, which travels through Teresina. It was placed into a cut in the centre of the city, to reduce interference with road traffic. It adopted diesel train-sets sponsored by RFFSA, which covered the stretch between Porto Alegre and Uruguaiana before, which has the metre gauge track. The construction works were initiated in July 1987.The company of the Teresina Metro was inaugurated on 15 August 1989, with the objective of establishing a high-capacity transport for the urban agglomeration of Teresina.
Line 1 entered into trial operation in November 1990 and was launched commercially on 11 January 1991.
A new station under construction in the city centre was supposed to increase usage to 20,000 passengers daily since none of the other stations are in the center of the city nor do they have bus terminals at their stations. After the inauguration of the Engenheiro Alberto Tavares Silva/Bandeira station, daily ridership only increased to 8,000 in 2013. In comparison, the city bus system handles about 225,000 daily passengers.
The Teresina Metro has plans to expand since it currently serves no major shopping center, the local soccer stadium, bus station or airport.