São Paulo Opens Limited Passenger Service on Line 6‑Laranja

Overview

• The Line 6‑Laranja began passenger service Friday, July 3, 2026, with six stations operating on weekdays from 10:00 to 15:00, free boarding, assisted manual operation and two trains running an estimated 20-minute trip.
• Reporters found that Água Branca does not yet have a direct underground connection to CPTM’s Line 7‑Rubi so passengers must exit and cross the street to transfer, even though officials describe the station as an integration point.
• The line is being delivered by the LinhaUni concessionaire under a R$19 billion public‑private partnership after nearly two decades of delays, stoppages, consortium changes and a tunnel‑boring‑machine collapse that slowed progress.
• Line 6 is built to large technical specs with very deep stations — Água Branca reaches 47.8 meters — and is planned to run about 15 stations with a fleet of 22 trains, each holding roughly 2,044 passengers.
• State authorities say the opening is phased and promise completion milestones over the coming months and years, but a precise timetable for full service, autonomous operation and underground transfers remains unclear and will affect daily commutes and planned regional links.