Key Facts

—The project. São Paulo is opening the first stretch of its Line 6-Orange metro this week.

—The cost. It is a R$19bn ($3.4bn) public-private partnership, billed as Latin America’s largest such build.

—The scale. When complete it will run 15.3km with 15 stations and carry about 633,000 riders a day.

—The saving. It cuts a trip that takes about ninety minutes by bus to roughly twenty-three minutes.