entrance In the middle of the 20th century, Rio de Janeiro was the largest city in Brazil and was
quickly growing, in large part due to urban
industrialization and the
migration of rural workers from the Northeast. At the same time, with the explosive growth of the
Brazilian car industry, the number of motor vehicles on the streets was quickly overwhelming the city, then reliant on its
streetcar,
bus and
suburban rail networks. By the early 1960s,
traffic jams,
pollution, and overcrowded public transport had become serious problems in the city, which were made worse by the dismantling of the streetcar network in 1964. To overcome these problems, the
local government decided to build a
metro network. On 14 December 1968, the Companhia do Metropolitano do Rio de Janeiro (Metro Company of Rio de Janeiro) was created through State Law number 1736. On 23 June 1970, construction work started in
Praça Paris using the
cut-and-cover method. The Rio de Janeiro Metro began operating on 5 March 1979. In the beginning, there were only five stations, all on
Line 1:
Praça Onze,
Central,
Presidente Vargas,
Cinelândia, and
Glória, operating from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. In its initial 10 days, the system transported more than half a million people, averaging sixty thousand passengers per day. At that time, the subway worked with only four trains of four cars each, with an average interval of eight minutes. In December of the same year, the operating schedule was extended until 11:00 PM, including Saturdays. In 1980, the
metro system began to be expanded with the opening of
Uruguaiana and
Estácio stations. The two new stations caused larger passenger demand, compelling an increase in the number of trains from four to six.
Carioca Station in
the city centre was finished in January 1981. By the end of the same year,
Catete,
Largo do Machado, Morro Azul (now called
Flamengo), and
Botafogo stations were completed. In 1982, the metro was extended to
Tijuca, with the openings of
Afonso Pena,
São Francisco Xavier and
Saens Peña stations. (nicknamed "
Batcave") in
Copacabana.
Line 2 opened from
Estácio to
Maracanã via
São Cristóvão in 1981, and initially used the same
rolling stock as Line 1, but, due to a shortage of this rolling stock, started instead using modified
light rail vehicles that had been ordered for the planned
pre-metro system in 1982. Line 2 was extended from Maracanã to
Maria da Graça in 1983; at the same time, the at-grade pre-metro was opened from Maria da Graça to
Irajá along an abandoned railway alignment via
Del Castilho and
Inhaúma. By 1984, Line 2 used 5 trains and ran every 5.5 minutes. A burst pipeline in 1985 led to the closure of the pre-metro line; it was partially rebuilt as fully grade-separated metro and re-opened in 1987 as an extension of Line 2, with trains running from Estácio to Inhaúma. In 1988,
Triagem Station opened.
Engenho da Rainha Station opened in 1991 and was followed by
Thomaz Coelho Station and
Vicente de Carvalho Station, both of which opened in 1996. By this point, Line 2 used 9 trains and ran every 6 minutes. In 2004, the metro started operating on Sundays. This was again postponed and the final opening took place in February 2007.
Estácio Station was briefly renamed Estácio/RioCidadeNova in 2007 as part of a partnership with a nearby
convention centre. . The bus was part of the Metrô na Superfície (Metro on the Surface), which was a bus service operated by Metrô Rio between some South Zone stations and
Gávea from 2002 to 2024. In late December 2007, Metro Rio renewed the
concession, then defined as for another 20 years, to 2038. In exchange for this early renewal, Metro Rio would buy 19 new trains; Metro Rio would also build a new stretch of track between
São Cristóvão and
Central, which would be used to interline
Line 2 and
Line 1, as well as a
new station on that section of track. In March 2008,
Del Castilho Station was renamed Nova América/Del Castilho as part of a partnership between Metrô Rio and the adjacent . It had been renamed back to Del Castilho by 2021.
Ipanema/General Osório Station in
Ipanema opened in December 2009, and was renamed General Osório in 2013. The connection between São Cristóvão and Central also opened in December 2009. The same month,
Invepar bought control of Metro Rio from the Opportrans Consortium.
Cidade Nova Station, located between São Cristóvão and Central, opened in November 2010. From 2009 to 2023, Line 2 ran from
Pavuna to
Botafogo on weekdays and from Pavuna to
Estácio on weekends and
public holidays, which meant that Cidade Nova station was only open on weekdays. Since 2023, Line 2 has run from Pavuna to Botafogo every day, with trains continuing on to
General Osório during special events. entrance 19 new trains, built by
CNR (which merged into
CRRC in 2015), arrived between August 2012 and March 2013. These trains are able to carry up to 2240 people and have a top speed of ; they also have
air conditioning units that allow the trains to operate in temperatures of up to . In March 2014,
Line 1 was extended further into
Tijuca with the opening of
Uruguai Station. In 2016,
Line 4 was completed between
General Osório Station and
Jardim Oceânico Station. This line had been legally conceded to the Rio Barra
consortium, which was owned by ,
Odebrecht and
Carioca Engenharia, and had its rolling stock acquired by MetroBarra, which was owned by
Invepar; Metrô Rio was responsible for operation and maintenance of the new line. Line 4 originally opened on 1st August, 4 days before the start of the
2016 Olympic Games, but was restricted to Olympic and
Paralympic ticket holders, athletes and media members until 19th September, the day after the Paralympic Games ended. 15 more CRRC trains were used for Line 4, with a total of 34 such trains in the system. train at
Botafogo Station Gávea Station, which is located on a
Line 4 spur between
Antero de Quental and
São Conrado, started construction in 2013, but construction was abandoned in 2015 due to an investigation from the
Rio de Janeiro State Court of Accounts (TCE-RJ) into overpriced contracts. Nearby tunneling work continued until April 2016. By the time construction work was abandoned, there was a deep hole at the station site; this was flooded with of water in 2017 so as to minimize structural risk to the surrounding buildings, including
PUC-RJ. The function of Gávea Station in the metro system would be as an
interchange station between a deinterlined Line 1 and Line 4, with Line 1 running a
circular route via Antero de Quental that will go under
Tijuca Massif towards
Uruguai, and Line 4 running from
Barra da Tijuca to
the city centre via São Conrado and
Jardim Botânico. In August 2025, work resumed on the station, with a
shuttle between São Conrado and Gávea expected to open by July 2028. In November 2019, a
state law officially changed the name of
Uruguaiana Station to Uruguaiana-Engenheiro Fernando Mac Dowell after the
then-recently deceased vice-mayor. Metrô Rio ignored this law and would later go on to rename the station themselves. In January 2021, Metrô Rio sold the
naming rights to
Botafogo Station, which was renamed Botafogo/Coca-Cola; the name was reverted to Botafogo in November 2022. In June 2022, a state law changed the name of
Presidente Vargas Station to Saara/Presidente Vargas so as to promote the nearby commercial district. In August 2022, another 16 of the system's 41 stations were renamed after the neighbourhoods where they are located:
Uruguai,
Saens Peña,
São Francisco Xavier,
Afonso Pena,
Central,
Uruguaiana,
Carioca,
Cinelândia,
Cardeal Arcoverde,
Siqueira Campos,
Cantagalo,
General Osório,
Nossa Senhora da Paz,
Jardim de Alah,
Antero de Quental and
Jardim Oceânico were respectively renamed to Uruguai /
Tijuca, Saens Peña / Tijuca, São Francisco Xavier / Tijuca, Afonso Pena / Tijuca, Central do Brasil /
Centro, Uruguaiana / Centro, Carioca / Centro, Cinelândia / Centro, Cardeal Arcoverde /
Copacabana, Siqueira Campos / Copacabana, Cantagalo / Copacabana, General Osório /
Ipanema, Nossa Senhora da Paz / Ipanema, Jardim de Alah /
Leblon, Antero de Quental / Leblon and Jardim Oceânico /
Barra da Tijuca. In September 2021,
Mubadala took over control over Metrô Rio from
Invepar in exchange for Mubadala forgiving
R$1.8 billion worth of
debt owed by Invepar. In April 2025, the
State Government signed a deal that extended Metrô Rio's
concession until 2048 in exchange for Metrô Rio investing R$600 million into the construction of
Gávea Station, with the State Government adding in another R$97 million. The agreement also provided for Metrô Rio to take over the
Line 4 concession from the Rio Barra Consortium, which up until that point had been administratively separate despite being operated as an extension of
Line 1. There is a drastic dip in early 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. ==Network==