RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mariana Moreira used to suffer a downtown traffic jam twice a week when she drove between home and classroom. She is happy today because a new metro line in the city has relieved her from the headache.
Line 4 of Rio Metro trains are now carrying her from Copacabana to Barra and back. They are comfortable rides, according to her.
The compartments have "better air conditioning, more space and bright lights," she said.
Further, "It is more convenient now, I can read books and review lessons in the train instead of cursing the traffic. I even feel that the distance has already been shortened," said Moreira.
"I am aware that all the trains of Line 4 are manufactured in China, they are much more advanced than the old trains of Line 1 and Line 2," she added.
Opened to the public before the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Line 4 has a total length of 16 kilometers and five stations. A one-way trip takes 13 minutes. All the trains of this subway line are produced in the Changchun Railway Vehicles Corporation in northeast China, a subsidiary of China's rolling stock manufacturer CRRC.
According to Daniel Habib, managing director of Rio Metro, Rio Metro's cooperation with the CRRC started in the year 2009.
Both sides are satisfied with the result of their longtime partnership, he said, hence Rio Metro is confidence in the Chinese company and its contract with the CRRC for the Olympic games line.
"We found that the quality of the trains was beyond our expectation when the CRRC sent us their products in 2009," said Habib.
"We thought there would be a rough time for these trains to get used to the local environment. Luckily, things went quite smooth. Then we immediately decided to enlarge the cooperation," he added.
Habib expects more cooperation with Chinese.
"We are going to build more subway lines in Rio. As long as the government starts the bid, I am sure that the CRRC will win and we will continue to work together," he said.
Apart from Line 4, there are also trains made in China running on Line 1 and Line 2 of the Rio Metro.
According to Mi Xue, sales manager of the Brazil Railway Equipment and Service Corporation under CRRC Changchun, her company has two projects in cooperation with the Rio Metro, including making 34 trains, 15 of them for Line 4.
MI's company also works for two projects of the transportation department of the Rio de Janeiro State, which involve 100 trains.
"In fact, we had huge difficulties when we first entered the market of Brazil. The local government and subway corporation did not trust us, since there had never been any Chinese train before. Gradually they accepted us and began to trust us thanks to the quality of our products and our patience," Mi said.
According to Mi, her company made special designs for trains to operate in Rio.
"For example, the climate of Rio is mainly hot and wet, so we enhance air conditioning in our trains. As public security in Rio is poor, we upgrade the trains' related systems," Mi said.
Mi's company, which officially started operation in Brazil last year, is striving to expand its business to other states of Brazil.
"Based on the success in Rio, we are now looking at the whole market of Brazil. The market of railway in Brazil is almost blank, subway is far from being in common use," Mi said.
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