CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) had to mobilize company workers this Friday (24) to perform functions that had not been carried out since May, when the transition phase for lines 11-coral, 12-sapphire, and 13-jade began.
Due to Thursday's (23) breakdown — on the third day of operation of the three branches by Trivia Trens — the Tarcísio de Freitas administration determined that the state-owned company would take over the operation of the lines for at least 90 days.
The three lines carry nearly 20 million passengers per month.
"I think the company needs to better prepare itself to take on this responsibility, this burden. What happened today [Thursday] is unacceptable," said Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos) during an event in the interior of the state on the day of the breakdown.
Michael Sotelo Cerqueira, president of CPTM, said the mobilization of employees began on Thursday itself, as soon as it was decided that the state company would resume operation of the lines.
"It was quite a complex operation, which demanded a great deal of energy," the executive told Folha. "We had to mobilize everyone and redo shift schedules — it was not something so simple and trivial."
The resumption of operations by CPTM was decided after a series of meetings throughout Thursday. A crisis cabinet was assembled early in the morning.
The decision, made by the Board of Directors of Artesp (the transport regulatory agency), was officially published in the State Official Gazette. The text states that the measure was necessary to safeguard the public interest, "prevent damage and ensure the regularity of the ongoing [concession] process."
The auction that defined the concession took place in March of last year and was won by the Comporte Participações group, founded by Nenê Constantino, from the founding family of the airline Gol, a holding company focused on the transportation sector, primarily road transport. The planned investments amount to R$ 14.3 billion.
The transition phase began last May, when company employees began having direct contact with the day-to-day operations of CPTM. Afterward, the roles were reversed. On Tuesday (21), the private company had taken control, also under supervision. The process now returns to the first phase of the transition.
Only after one year — that is, in July 2027 — would the concessionaire fully take over operations. Whether that deadline will be maintained is now uncertain.
According to Cerqueira, some areas considered sensitive in the operation did not have their full teams in place, such as preventive maintenance, due to the short time available for mobilization, but the trains ran normally.
"In some stations, instead of four employees, we had three, but that did not affect quality," he said.
Trivia Trens employees participated in the operation alongside CPTM staff.
A failure in a train at around 5:40 a.m. caused an "electrical incident between Tatuapé and Brás stations" involving line 12, according to the company. Service was suspended on all three lines and passengers had to walk along the tracks to reach the stations.
A train caught fire with passengers still inside. No one was injured.
"The priority from the very first moment was the safety of people and the rapid mobilization of teams to restore operations in the shortest time possible," the concessionaire said in a statement.
A permanent safety commission, which includes among others CPTM and Trivia Trens itself, will analyze the causes of the failure.
Cerqueira did not want to comment on the problem, which occurred under another operator, but said it was a significant failure. "We need to learn from it, because failures happen, systems are complex," he stated.
