The São Paulo Metropolitan Train () is a public railway system of commuter rail services operating in Greater São Paulo, serving 23 of its 39 municipalities. The system comprises of length, 7 lines and 100 unique (110 overall) stations, carrying around 3 million passengers on an average weekday. The count of unique stations considers interchange stations only once, while the total station count is obtained by the sum of the stations of each line, including interchange stations more than once. Interchange stations are Osasco, Presidente Altino, Palmeiras–Barra Funda, Luz, Brás, Tatuapé, Engenheiro Goulart, and Calmon Viana. Details are available in the system table.

Currently, it is operated by three different companies: one is the state-owned Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), which took over the lines formerly operated by the Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos (CBTU) in 1994 and by FEPASA in 1996; the others are private: ViaMobilidade Linhas 8 e 9, which took over the former FEPASA lines under a concession granted by the São Paulo State Government and began operating lines 8 and 9 in January 2022; TIC Trens, which began operating line 7 on November 26, 2025, and will also be responsible for the Northern Corridor of the regional rail network service.

The São Paulo metropolitan rail network is the largest urban rail system in Brazil by route length and the country's second-busiest in terms of daily ridership, behind only the São Paulo Metro. It is integrated into the Metro system, composing a network of over , making it the largest metropolitan rail transport network in Latin America.

History Origin of the lines Federal railways The history of railways in the state of São Paulo dates back to 1867 with the construction of the first link between the cities of Santos, São Paulo and Jundiaí by São Paulo Railway, inaugurated on 16 February 1867, which crossed the state plateau and going down the Serra do Mar. The first commuter train service on this railway dates back to 1883, between Pirituba and Pilar (Mauá) stations, gradually expanded over the years from Jundiaí to Paranapiacaba (shortened to Rio Grande da Serra in 2001), forming the current lines 7–Ruby and 10–Turquoise.

In the 1870s, the build the Estrada de Ferro do Norte, a railway that connected São Paulo to the cities of the Paraíba Valley. In the 1890s, this railway was incorporated by Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil (EFCB), connecting São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. The commuter train service on this line was operated between do Norte and Mogi das Cruzes stations, constituting what is currently Line 11–Coral. In 1921, the EFCB began constructing a variant to the main trunk called the Poá Variant, between Tatuapé and Calmon Viana stations. The service started its operation in 1934 and it now comprises the entirety of Line 12–Sapphire.

In 1946, Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí, administered by the federal government, took over the railway, which corresponds to the current lines 7-Ruby and 10-Turquoise.<

In 1957, the federal railway are unified into one state-owned company, Rede Ferroviária Federal (RFFSA), amongst them EFCB and Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí. RFFSA's commuter train operations throughout the country originated, in the 1970s, the Empresa Brasileira de Transporte Urbano (EBTU), merged in 1984 with the Empresa de Engenharia Ferroviária (ENGEFER), creating the Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos (CBTU). In Greater São Paulo, CBTU was responsible for operating the northwest–southeast, East (also called Trunk) and Variant lines of the commuter train system.

State railways

In 1875, the was inaugurated, with a connection between the cities of São Paulo and Sorocaba, called the Trunk Line. The EFS was nationalized by the Government of São Paulo in 1919. In 1934, a commuter train service began operating between São Paulo and Mairinque stations (and later shortened to Amador Bueno), constituting what is today Line 8–Diamond.

After Sorocabana was incorporated by FEPASA in 1971, the Regional Unit of the Suburbs was created, later renamed to Metropolitan Regional Direction. It was a division that managed passenger transportation within the metropolitan areas of the state of São Paulo. In Greater São Paulo, it was responsible for operating the West and South lines of the commuter rail system.

Operations in the second half of the 20th century

From 1975 to 1980, FEPASA/DRM developed a great plan of remodeling of the suburbs trains, transformed into metropolitan trains (West and South Lines). Yet, the economic crisis jeopardized the investments and delayed the projects implementations.

At the same time, the suburban trains operated by RFFSA (Lines Santos-Jundiaí, Tronco Mogi and Variante Poá) received modest investments. With that, breakdowns and riots were common, with commuters promoting vandalism in stations, trains and other railway facilities. In 1972, during the discussion of the project of East-West Line, the Metro proposed the transfer of Tronco-Mogi Line and its conversion into a metropolitan train, proposed rejected by RFFSA.

Even with the transfer of the suburban lines from RFFSA to the recently created CBTU, the precariousness of the urban trains administered by the federal government reached a peak in 1987 with the . Caused by the lack of investments and maintenance failures, the accident caused the death of 51 passengers. On 30 April 1987, the state government and the Ministry of Transports signed an intention protocol for the transfer of CBTU East Line-Mogi to the Metro administration. The cost of the transfer and conversion of the line into metropolitan train was of US$ 350 million (almost Cz$ 9 billion) for the state. During 1987, the state government negotiated with the federal government. The lack of state funds and lack of interest of CBTU in the transfer (the company proposed to the state government a shared operation of the lines among CBTU, RFFSA and Metrô) blocked the continuation of the project, besides it was the first step of the acquisition of the network by the state government years later.

Creation of CPTM and complete state takeover

On May 28, 1992, through Law No. 7,861, the São Paulo government created the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), which would be responsible for assuming management of the commuter train system in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, replacing CBTU's São Paulo Urban Trains Superintendency (STU/SP) and Fepasa DRM, to ensure continuity and improvement of services. Effective control of the lines belonging to CBTU occurred only in 1994. The Fepasa lines were incorporated into CPTM in 1996, at the same time the company's freight railway network was transferred to RFFSA, being subsequently privatized along with the company's entire railway system around the country.

CPTM established a new visual communication for the system, adopting a silver livery with blue and red details for the trains, replacing the blue and green on CBTU rolling stock and the red and white of Fepasa compositions. The lines also gained a new naming convention, replacing regions with letters and colors. The CBTU's Northwest, Southeast, East and Variant lines were renamed A–Brown, D–Bege, E–Orange and F–Violet, and Fepasa's West and South lines became B–Grey and C–Celestial.

Expansion and modernization At the beginning of CPTM's management, the frequent occurrence of breakdowns, sexual harassment, street vending, strikes, train surfing, among other problems, led some passengers to cause a series of at trains and stations from September 30 to October 16, 1996, causing the interruption of services on the then Line A–Brown for six months. Due to having such an extensive and degraded railway network, CPTM began modernizing its systems, investing 1.5 billion dollars in the network between 1995 and 2004.

Early construction works began in 1998 for the then-called Line G–Lilac, which had been planned for years by Fepasa as the Campo Limpo Branch. The section between Largo Treze and Capão Redondo, in the south zone of São Paulo, required the construction of of elevated tracks, of at-grade tracks, and of underground tracks, as well as a maintenance and switching yard in Capão Redondo. However, the section was handed over in 2001 to the São Paulo Metro in exchange for the Expresso Leste, built by CMSP. The shortcut between Corinthians-Itaquera and Guaianases led to the extinction of the "trunk line" layout that went through the Itaquera district (current José Pinheiro Borges Avenue route), as well as the shutdown several stations between Corinthians-Itaquera and Tatuapé. Following the handover, works began on Line 5 of the São Paulo Metro, which replaced the previous project and started operation in 2002.

In November 2006, the CPTM Operational Control Center (CCO) building was inaugurated in an area adjacent to Brás Station. Besides metropolitan trains, it also manages the circulation of freight trains on the sections where they share tracks with passenger trains. The CCO became responsible for the operation of the six lines of the system, which were previously commanded from different points.

In March 2008, the nomenclature of the lines belonging to the train system was unified with the scheme used by the Metro. Each line was assigned a number (starting from 7) and the name of a gemstone. Thus, lines A–Brown, B–Grey, C–Celestial, D–Bege, E–Orange and F–Violet became 7–Ruby, 8–Diamond, 9–Emerald, 10–Turquoise, 11–Coral and 12–Sapphire.

In December 2013, construction began on the Guarulhos Branch, renamed Line 13–Jade. Phase I was defined with of extension and three stations (Engenheiro Goulart, Guarulhos-Cecap and Aeroporto–Guarulhos). On March 31, 2018, the first phase of the line was inaugurated, the first to be entirely built and operated by CPTM.

Concession of system lines

The first official attempt at a concession for Metropolitan Train lines to the private sector occurred in 1999, during the Mário Covas government, when the intention to privatize CPTM lines by 2001 was announced, with the state-owned company retaining only the Barra Funda-Brás section.

In April 2001, the Geraldo Alckmin government announced its plans to award concessions for four of the six lines (Lines A, B, D, and F) and to merge CPTM with CMSP, which would then operate Lines C and E. Despite the concession proposal, the state government guaranteed that it would provide funding for the restoration of the rail network covered by the concession.

The project was eventually shelved. The next proposal for the concession of the lines came from Triunfo Participações e Investimentos S/A, which published a Private Expression of Interest (MIP) for the concession of Lines 8 and 9. Triunfo's proposal served as the basis for drafting the call for bids for the concession of Lines 8 and 9, initiated by the João Doria administration. Despite expectations that several domestic and foreign companies would participate (Triunfo, the author of the MIP, entered into judicial reorganization, claiming this was one of the effects of Operation Car Wash, and withdrew from the process), the following proposals were submitted:

ViaMobilidade Lines 8 and 9 (Motiva and RuasInvest) – concession fee of R$ 980,000,000.00 Mobitrens (Comporte, Líder, Consbem, and CAF) – concession fee of R$ 787,737,800.00 Integração (Iberica Holding and Metra) – concession of R$ 519,500,000.00 Itapemirim and Encalso Mobility Rail (Itapemirim and Encalso Construções) – concession of R$ 400,000,000.00

Following the state's review, ViaMobilidade's bid was declared the winner on April 20, 2021, with a concession fee of 890 million reais. The concession contract for Lines 8 and 9 was signed on June 30, 2021 and operations were transferred to the concessionaire on January 27, 2022.

System Lines