CPTM Strike Halts Service on Three Lines, Deepening Commute Chaos in São Paulo

Overview

• The union approved an indefinite strike that began at 0:01 on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and the stoppage has entered a second day with Lines 11 and 12 running only on reduced segments and Line 13 and the Expresso Aeroporto largely suspended.
• The Tribunal Regional do Trabalho ordered minimum staffing of 80% at peak hours and 60% off‑peak with a R$400,000 daily fine for noncompliance, and CPTM says the workforce has at times been below those levels.
• The state activated a broad contingency plan that shifted passengers to Paese buses (reported between 128 and 195 vehicles), opened metro lines earlier, added extra train compositions and increased policing and traffic control to ease station crowding.
• The union’s core demand is a written guarantee of job preservation for workers on the concessioned lines while the government says it communicated job‑maintenance commitments and supplied redeployment figures for CPTM staff.
• The dispute traces to July’s handover of the three lines to Trivia Trens, which suffered early failures including a wagon fire and prompted CPTM to temporarily reassume operation for 90 days, turning the labor fight into a political issue ahead of state elections.