rio's metrô opened in 1979, after nine hard years of construction had gone into the project, with a fancy ceremony, which included the then president of brazil, joăo figueiredo - initially a modest affair, the original subway only had 4.3 kilometers of track, with just five stations: praça xi, central, presidente vargas, cinelândia and glória, however, it did have the advantage of being free of charge. in the first days of the system, the subway would carry an average of 60 thousand passengers a day, who would squeeze onto the four trains, each with four cars, which circulated in intervals of eight minutes - running a much-reduced service, in the first months of the metrô it was only open between 9am and 3pm, until changing to 11pm, in december 1979.
