2016: The Rio de Janeiro Metro Opens a New Line Just in Time for the Summer Olympics

July 30, 2016

A new line of the Rio de Janeiro Metro in Brazil’s second largest city was officially opened. Line 4 (also known as the Yellow Line) of that rapid transit network connects the Jardim Oceânico Station in the neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro with the General Osório Station in the neighborhood of Ipanema in the city’s South Zone. (The latter of those two neighborhoods gained international fame during the 1960s with the introduction of the popular Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song The Girl from Ipanema.)

Construction on Line 4 began in 2010. This line was completed and opened in time to accommodate people traveling to and from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. These Olympic Games, which were the first to be held anywhere in South America, took place between August 5 and 21; preliminary events for some of the sports began as early as August 3. The majority of the Olympic competitions were held in Barra da Tijuca.  

Those taking part in the inaugural ceremonies for Line 4 included Michel Temer, vice president of Brazil; Henrique Meirelles, minister of sports; and Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro. Ridership on Line 4 was initially restricted to individuals with tickets to Olympic Games. The line was not made available to the general public until mid-September, when that year’s Summer Paralympic Games (having begun in Rio de Janeiro a little over two weeks after the Summer Olympics ended) were winding down.

Line 4 encompasses a total of six stations and covers 9.9 miles (16 kilometers) between Barra da Tijuca and Ipanema. (The above photo was taken at the General Osório Station, which also serves as a terminus for Line 1 of the Rio de Janeiro Metro.) The Rio de Janeiro Metro in its entirety encompasses 41 stations altogether and covers a total of 36 miles (58 kilometers).

Photo Credit: Mariordo (Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

For more information on Line 4 (the Yellow Line) of the Rio de Janeiro Metro, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_4_(Rio_de_Janeiro)

Additional information on the Rio de Janeiro Metro in its entirety is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro_Metro