BYD SkyRail São Paulo has signed a contract to provide its SkyRail system for the São Paulo Metro’s Line 17 (Gold Line) project. This is BYD’s second major collaborative project in Brazil, following the company’s SkyRail line in the city of Salvador.

BYD will provide an entire suite of products and services, including 14 fleets of five-vehicle trains, switches, conductive rails, UTO-level signal system, central control system, engineering vehicles, vehicle-washing machines, and technical services — including engineering integration, installation, debugging and training.
Designed to solve urban traffic congestion, BYD’s SkyRail is a straddle-type monorail system designed to lower costs via a shorter construction period and greater terrain adaptability (when compared to competing technologies), while also being energy-efficient, emitting zero emissions and operating quietly.

According to Tyler Li, country manager of BYD Brazil, Line 17 is designed to reach a ‘daily flow’ of 250,000 passengers,with the interval between departures as short as 80sec. The completion of Line 17 is expected to significantly alleviate the pressure on road traffic between Congonhas Airport and other parts of the city.

BYD’s headquarters for its operations in North and South America is in Los Angeles, where the firm’s American SkyRail team is based. Thomas Stone, BYD’s senior strategic advisor for SkyRail projects in North America, said: “Over my 45-year career in the planning, design and construction of rapid transit systems here and abroad, I have never seen a company that matches the depth and breadth of BYD’s advanced transit technology.

“The SkyRail system in Sao Paulo includes vehicles and systems similar to what the company is proposing here in Los Angeles — and for several other cities in the USA. I believe this helps to solidify BYD’s position as the new global leader in advanced urban monorail technology.”