The Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Zone is home to one of the most important railroad junctions, connecting, without alternative, the north to the south and the east to the west of Brazil.

In view of these problems, GEIPOT developed a project that sought a joint solution for freight and passengers, duplicating and segregating the lines and discarding the previous idea, which was to build a railway ring around the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Zone, which would be unfeasible to implement.

The project was developed with the following basic objectives: Implement an urban transport system on rails with subway characteristics that would serve the population in the area of direct and indirect influence of the existing RFFSA lines; improve the operational conditions of the freight lines that cross the Metropolitan Region, eliminating level crossings and expanding the transport capacity from 5 million tons/year to 30 million in the first phase and to 60 million tons/year with the duplication of the line; rationalize and modernize the urban transportation system of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Zone, providing greater fluidity to road traffic, reconstitution of the road network divided at grade by railways, fuel savings and reduction of noise and air pollution rates.

The original project initially envisaged a connection between Betim, to the west, and Matadouro, North East of Belo Horizonte, with a branch line to Barreiro, to the southwest, totaling 57.5 km of railway platform in a completely sealed lane, lower and upper crossings for vehicles and pedestrians.

22 stations, 25 electric train units, workshops, yards, intermodal integration terminals, support facilities, in addition to energy, supervision, control and telecommunications systems were planned.

However, due to the closure of the PME and the lack of definition of new sources of investment, the Federal Government's resources ceased and the work schedules were successively rolled over until 1987, when the service fronts were practically demobilized, making it possible to partially operate the Eldorado-Central section, with 12.5 km in length, seven stations and a fleet of only five trains.

With the delay in implementation and the densification of the northern vector of the metropolitan region, the objectives and projects initially planned were modified, adapting them to a new reality.

In addition, priority was given to completing the Central-São Paulo section[note 2] and extending the subway to the northern zone, towards the Venda Nova region, in view of the growth in travel characteristics and urban densification of the vector.

Four more stations were also planned on the Eldorado-São Paulo stretch, two between Eldorado and Central (Vila Oeste and Rodoviária) and another two between Horto Florestal and São Gabriel (José Cândido da Silveira and Minas Shopping).

The inclusion of these new stations is due to the reformulation of the implementation project, revitalizing the operation and planning of the system with metro characteristics, in addition to expanding service to the network's area of influence.

The following year, the implementation of Line 2 also began, thanks to the guarantee of resources from financing provided by the World Bank, which also supported the preparation of the Master Plan for Rail Transportation of the RMBH (PDTT), developed in a 20-year scenario.

In 2002, the extension to Venda Nova was completed, with the delivery of five new stations: São Gabriel, Primeiro de Maio, Waldomiro Lobo, Floramar and Vilarinho.

The concession consisted of one of the stages of the privatization and regionalization process of the system, initiated by the Brazilian federal government in 2019, through the Partnerships and Investment Program (PPI).

The Comporte Group, operating in the road freight and passenger transportation sectors, was the winner of the auction process, in a single bid, for approximately R$ 25.7 million.

[14] The consortium will be responsible for the duties set out in the notice prepared by BNDES, which include the operation, management and maintenance of the metro-rail network for 30 years, in addition to the revitalization and expansion of the current Line 1 and the construction of Line 2, currently halted, with the contribution of R$3.8 billion, from resources from the Brazilian Federal Government, from fines paid by rail freight carriers VLI and Ferrovia Centro Atlântica due to the abandonment of concessioned railway sections that were returned, and also from the Government of the State of Minas Gerais, from compensation arising from the judicial agreement with Vale S.A. due to the socio-environmental damages caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam in Brumadinho in 2019, in addition to financial contributions from the company itself throughout the concession period.

[17] The Rail Transportation Master Plan for the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (PDTT) was commissioned by CBTU, in partnership with the World Bank, in 1999.

In the presented proposal, Line 1 would receive extensions to the cities of Betim (thus resuming the abandoned Eldorado-Betim section of the original project) and Ribeirão das Neves.

The proposal presented by the superintendence considers extending the branch underground, inserting it into the central area of Belo Horizonte, without degrading and/or competing with Line 1.

The scenario modeling resulted in a readjustment of the PDTT proposal for Line 2, where it will go underground under the bed of Amazonas, Afonso Pena, Carandaí and Brasil avenues, until re-emerging to the surface in Santa Tereza.

This agreement allowed for the implementation of projects to expand the current Line 1 to the northern vector, of the PDTT and studies for the concession of the system, upon completion of the planned works.

In the same year, Metrominas launched a public notice for the preparation of a rail transport project between Contagem and Betim, complementing the system expansion process coordinated by the company.

From this section onwards, a VLT branch line would continue to Betim, 19.2 km long, in accordance with the demand presented in the scenarios studied.

[25] On December 22, 2022, the Belo Horizonte metro began to be managed by the Metrô BH company, through an auction held on the São Paulo Stock Exchange.

[26] The new operator will be responsible for the operation, management and maintenance of the metro rail network for 30 years, in addition to the revitalization and expansion interventions of the current Line 1 (expansion to Novo Eldorado) and the construction of Line 2 (new transfer station Nova Suiça between Calafate and Gameleira and expansion to Barreiro), with resources coming from the Brazilian Federal Government, the Government of State Minas Gerais and a fine arising from the judicial agreement with Vale S.A. due to the socio-environmental damages that occurred in the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019 and fines paid by the freight railway operator VLI, resulting from the return of unused railway sections to the federal government, in addition to the company's own financial resources.