Where did CPTM's line 11-Coral come from?

Well-known throughout São Paulo, CPTM's 11-Coral line (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) is the busiest in the company's over 270km network, in addition to being one of the busiest rail spurs in the world. However, of the high number of people who use the Light-Students branch daily, few are those who allow themselves to pay attention to the vast story that those tracks have to tell us. Want to know more, so keep reading!

Present in the CPTM fleet since 2016, the 8500 series trains (PHOTO) for a long time operated exclusively on line 11. Today, units of this series can already be found running on other lines, such as the 8-Diamond and the 710 Service lines, but yet line 11 has the most specimens. (Photo by: Estação Mobilidade)

1- The beginning of line 11 - Coral

The first inaugurated stretch of the line, which still receives passengers, was between Guaianazes and Mogi das Cruzes, opened in 1869. It was named Northern Railroad, and was a rail link between the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro which transported mainly coffee and passengers.

Photo of the former Cachoeira Paulista station, connection point between the EFCB and the Northern Railroad. There were two railroads instead of one due to the difference between the gauges of the rails. (Photo by: Fernando Picarelli)

In 1890, the Northern Railroad was finally incorporated into the so-called EFCB (Central Railroad of Brazil), which gave rise to the connection between tracks that even today receive trains, with passengers traveling only from São Paulo to Mogi das Crosses. Currently, the part of the original branch after this city receives only cargo, and belongs to the private company that manages the Southwest's Regional Network (translate these last tree words and you'll understand why the company's name is "MRS Logística") of the former RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal S/A).

The old Poá station. (Photo by: Estações Ferroviárias)

At the beginning of the 20th century, still under the administration of the EFCB, the provision of regular train services from the center of São Paulo to the Penha region began. -red, ok?!) and, later, to Mogi das Cruzes. However, the stretch was only electrified as we know it in the 1950s and the start of operation with this new type of energy supply was made with TUE's (Electric Unit Trains) already worn out.

In 1975, the branch was transferred to the administration of RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal Sociedade Anônima) and in the following year, due to the need to serve students from the University of Mogi das Cruzes, the Estudantes Station was inaugurated and named as the end of the Brás-Mogi commuter trains line. The station still performs this function today.

In 1984, the line was passed to CBTU (Brazilian Urban Trains Company, which still exists and operates subway and VLT lines, such as Metrô BH in Belo Horizonte and MetroRec in Recife, but nothing in São Paulo), a company in which branch was called "Trunk Line", already covering stations that are still in operation today, such as Estudantes, Suzano, Jundiapeba and Calmon Viana, for example.

Train at the former Engenheiro Gualberto station, whose debris can still be seen by those using line 11.

In 1994, the rail line was transferred to CPTM. Already under the ownership of the then new state-owned company, the line was renamed "Line E - Orange" until, in 2008, it received the current name: Line 11 - Coral.

2- But how did the East Express come about?

Callm down, because i'm going to tell you this now! Hahahaha!

In 1987, then-governor Orestes Quércia (PMDB) announced the subway line 6-orange (Well, this name is not as new as it sounds!) which, in fact, was an "extension" of the 3-red line to Guaianazes. However, the announcement of the new project, despite being positive for the population, was reckless and merely electoral.

Metrô had stopped studying the project of the line even before its announcement by the then governor due to analyzes carried out by the company. Such analyzes stated that the implementation of the new line would cause overcrowding and, consequently, a collapse in the system. However, even with the numbers presented by Metrô contraindicating the construction of the new line, Governor Quércia announced the project.

In 1987, the construction of the new line began, which had to be partially interrupted and was only resumed in 1988. During Fleury's administration, the works were completely halted due to a debt incurred by Companhia do Metrô de São Paulo with this and other projects . That's because, due to stoppages and other problems, the company was no longer able to take out loans to pay for the work.

A train from the CPTM's 8500 series leaving Corinthians - Itaquera Station, which would be one of the terminals of the new line. It can be seen that the CPTM part of the station, as well as the Dom Bosco (first photo) and José Bonifácio stations, retain characteristics that we can see in all stations of lines 1, 2 and 3 of the Metro.

During the Mário Covas administration, CPTM managed to obtain sufficient loans from the BNDES to complete the work. The company did it, taking over the line and deactivating the stations on the old stretch between Tatuapé and the center of the Itaquera district, such as Arthur Alvim, Engenheiro Gualberto, Clemente Falcão and others, which gave way to the East Radial Avenue. On May 27, 2000, CPTM finally inaugurated the East Express Service, taking line 11-Coral to the legendary Luz station.

In 2019, CPTM reached another important milestone in the history of the line: the elimination of transshipment in Guaianazes, unifying the two parts of the line into a single one, thus reducing the travel time between the two final stations (Luz and Estudantes).

Did you liked it? Now, I doubt that you, as you walk over the line, will not be amazed at how long it has been around and how much water has passed under that bridge! Hahahaha! A kiss and a hug to all of you!