Line 3 (Rio de Janeiro)

The plan to build a subway line connecting Rio de Janeiro to its sister municipality, Niterói, has existed since at least 1968.[1] In the 1968 plan, it was estimated that the line would've been built by 1990.[1] However, that deadline was never met.

Throughout the following years, many more promises were made – and subsequently not kept – by a multitude of governors of Rio de Janeiro regarding the construction of Line 3:

• In 2002, the project was divided into two parts: part 1, with a length of 6 kilometres (3.7 mi), extending underneath Guanabara Bay from Carioca Station (Rio de Janeiro) to Arariboia Station (Niterói); and part 2, with a length of roughly 21 kilometres (13 mi), extending from Arariboia Station (Niterói) to Guaxindiba (São Gonçalo), with segments above ground.[2][3]
• In 2006, a seminar called "Rio de Janeiro on Rails – Subway Line 3" (Portuguese: Rio de Janeiro nos Trilhos – Linha 3 do Metrô) was held by the Brazilian Association of the Railway Industry (Portuguese: Associação Brasileira da Indústria Ferroviária, shortened as ABIFER) to discuss the implementation of the project of Line 3.[4]
• In 2011, the Brazilian Ministry of Works announced that construction on the line would begin that year for a 2014 opening.[5] The line would feature an existing 23 kilometres (14 mi) suburban rail alignment in Niterói, São Gonçalo and Itaboraí being upgraded to metro standard, and a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) tunnel under Guanabara Bay to Rio de Janeiro.[6] Federal funds for the construction, totalling R$ 1.2 billion, were initially intended to be granted in 2012, but were barred by Congress in late 2011.[7]
• In September 2013, governor Sérgio Cabral and president Dilma Rousseff announced a partnership between the federal and state governments, with the goal of collecting R$2.57 billion in total to be put towards the construction of Line 3.[8]
• In October 2014, governor Pezão stated his intent in starting the construction of Line 3 before the end of the year.[9] Eight months later, in June 2015, Pezão explained that the state's government didn't have the necessary funds to build it, which had an estimated cost of R$3.9 billion.[10] The Director Plan of Urban Transportation of 2015 (Portuguese: Plano Diretor de Transportes Urbanos) estimated that construction of its many projects should be done by 2036, but that it would be ideal for them to be finished by 2021.[11]
• In July 2019, governor Wilson Witzel guaranteed that, during his administration, the construction of Line 3 would begin.[12] Six months later, in January 2020, Witzel stated that the administration was considering whether building more boat stations would be more effective than building Line 3.[13] Later that year, in August 2020, Witzel was suspended from office – and was subsequently impeached in April 2021 –, being replaced by Cláudio Castro as governor of Rio de Janeiro.
• Cláudio Castro, elected in 2022 as governor of Rio de Janeiro,[14] stated in the government plans that he intended on constructing Line 3.[15]
• In January 2023, after president Lula requested each state governor for a list of four pending construction works in their state that could use federal aid, Castro did not include the Line 3 expansion in his list, stating: "It's no use for me, right now, to talk about the metro Line 3, that, although very important, is very held up in terms of project maturity. [...] It's no use to talk about something to be done in three, four years".[16][17]
• In February 2023, when directly asked if Line 3 was planned for 2023, Castro's government deflected by speaking about the new bus service planned for São Gonçalo, MUVI.[18]