Touristic Express
The Touristic Express is a service of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos, a tourist train that makes trips between Luz Station, in São Paulo, and Paranapiacaba, Mogi das Cruzes and Jundiaí, with the objective of showing and disseminating the history of railroads and trains, which boosted the capital and the cities that are part of the São Paulo railway network.
Characteristics
The express forms a large tourist network along the CPTM lines, connecting the capital of São Paulo and the historic district of Paranapiacaba, in the Serra do Mar, in Santo André; with the Fruit Circuit in the interior of São Paulo, from the municipality of Jundiaí; and with the Flower Circuit in the municipality of Mogi das Cruzes.The route is covered by ALCO RS-3 and GE U20C diesel-electric locomotives from CPTM, with custom paint and traveling at about 40 kilometers per hour. These drive Budd–Mafersa stainless steel passenger cars for long distances, with a capacity of 88 and 87 people, manufactured in 1962. The route to Mogi das Cruzes also has a bike rack with 45 positions.
These cars were provided by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure and belonged to the former and Fepasa. Currently, two more passenger cars are under renovation to join the Express.
Passengers carried
From its creation until 2018, the Tourist Express transported more than 140 thousand passengers. However, the number of passengers is falling, as part of the tourism sector affected by the political-economic crisis in Brazil from 2014 to 2018:| Year | Passengers | Travel |
| 2009 | 10,000 | 234 |
| 2010 | 15,000 | 234 |
| 2011 | 12,000 | 234 |
| 2012 | 17,000 | 104 |
| 2013 | 15,000 | 102 |
| 2014 | 15,000 | 102 |
| 2015 | 15,000 | 102 |
| 2016 | 14,000 | 102 |
| 2017 | 15,000 | 101 |
| 2018 | 13,000 | 99 |
| 2019 | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
Proposed routes
There were plans for four more new tourist routes, including one route connecting Luz to the city of São Roque, where there is the Wine Route, and three others lasting a weekend:- one connecting Luz to the climatic resort of Campos do Jordão, with a connection in the city of Pindamonhangaba, with a transfer to the trains,
- one connecting Luz to the city of Aparecida do Norte, where there is the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida, and
- another route connecting Luz to the Santos coast, going down and up the Serra do Mar, in addition to serving the users of the Baixada Santista.
Currently, CPTM is studying the concession of the Touristic Express to the private sector.