Sé (São Paulo Metro)

Sé
The two main metro lines cross underneath the downtown square of Praça de Se beside this atrium
General information
Coordinates	23°33′02″S 46°38′01″W
Owned by	Government of the State of São Paulo
Operated by	Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo
Platforms	1 Island platform 2 Side platforms
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	PSE
History
Opened	February 17, 1978
Passengers
171,000/business day 200,000/business day
Services
Preceding station São Paulo Metro Following station São Bento towards Tucuruvi Line 1 Japão-Liberdade towards Jabaquara Anhangabaú towards Palmeiras–Barra Funda Line 3 Pedro II towards Corinthians-Itaquera
Track layout Upper level (Line 1) to São Bento to Japão-Liberdade Lower level (Line 3) to Anhangabaú to Pedro II

Sé is a central station on Line 1 (Blue) and Line 3 (Red) of the São Paulo Metro. It is located under the Praça da Sé, next to the São Paulo Cathedral. It was officially inaugurated on 17 February 1978.

History

Beginnings

Praça da Sé has always been present since the first subway projects in São Paulo, either with a station around it or under the square. From 1945 on, with the implementation of the first bus terminal in the city, Praça da Sé was consolidating itself as a nerve center for transport in the capital, with huge queues of passengers for the few buses going to all corners of the city. The construction of the Wilson Mendes Caldeira Building in its surroundings symbolized the frenetic growth of the city of São Paulo, which at that time received the nickname “the fastest growing city in the world”. As a result, São Paulo's transport systems gradually collapsed, putting pressure on the authorities to solve the transport problem.

After several failed attempts, in 1966 the Grupo Executivo do Metropolitano (GEM) was formed, and on March 24, 1968 the Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo (Metrô) was founded, which hired a consortium formed by the German construction companies Hochtief and Deconsult and by Montreal, forming the HMD Consortium.

Project

The HMD Consortium hired a team of urban architects led by Marcelo Aciolly Fragelli, who created the station designs. In the central region, the Clóvis Beviláqcua station was designed by architects Roberto McFadden and José Paulo de Bem; however, as it is the largest station in the network (housing the North-South and East-West lines and a third line to Santo Amaro- which ended up not getting off the ground) this project was conceived slowly. The lack of space to build the station was its biggest challenge until the team proposed a radical change: the unification of the Sé and Clóvis Beviláqcua squares and the demolition of the Wilson Mendes Caldeira Building and Palacete Santa Helena. This decision caused controversy at the time, but the need to build the subway network spoke louder.

Characteristics

This underground station has two levels: one for the boarding of Line 1–Blue, and one for the boarding of Line 3–Red. It also consists of a distribution mezzanine and two overlapping levels with two lateral platforms and a central one (one set per line) with an exposed concrete structure and openings for natural lighting. The main access is integrated with the square at the promenade level. It has capacity for 100,000 passengers at peak hours, and has 39,925 square metres (429,750 sq ft) of built area.