Have they been tested with full passenger loads over sustained periods of time? I have some experience with rail in the Bay Area when trains are full, and I'd be very concerned about things like propulsion, overheated brakes, jammed doors and malfunctioning air conditioning when those trains are packed with passengers. Recall that the AirTrain at JFK ran tests with concrete blocks inside the cars to simulate the weight of full passenger loads. Are they doing something like that in the testing process in Rio?

Also, how much testing of things like fare gates, ticket machines and escalators with a substantial amount of passengers?

FT,

I have a departure from GIG on BA in T2 @ 2145 on the 30th and was wondering how early I need to show up due to the increased security?

Kurt

Pardon me for having some skepticism about the new metro line, especially when a bike path that was erected and people had been using collapsed causing deaths and when officials said they'd clean up the bay and haven't.

I'd love it if the new trains work perfectly, I would hope so for everyone's safety. But like others have said, reporters using the trains for a story is different than hundreds of thousands of visitors using the new train system at capacity on a daily basis.

"Increased security" in Brazil means now equal to that "before" in most major EU/US/CDN airports, so arrival time should be equal, 2 hours minimum before boarding time, IMO, more if possible. You must take traffic into consideration when deciding when to leave your lodging. If at a hotel, staff can be helpful at estimating time in traffic at a given hour. It's not an exciting airport in terms of shopping or restaurants, but bring a book or your internet device to pass the time and you'll be OK, or decide to eat dinner/snack there.

The trains were already in use in other subway lines, therefore that is no need of testing the trains themselves, but rather the new infrastructure of the line.

Sand bags were used instead of concrete blocks for the testing with full passenger load.

The line will receive much fewer passengers than it expects during peak hours of normal operation, since only ticket holders will gain access to it.

Metro line 4 will operate as a separate line during olympics and only for ticket holders, with trains running every 10 minutes. After the olympics they'll do the normal testing period 11am-3pm for a few months, and only in early 2017 should you expect things to open normally, and the line will be a continuation of Line 1.

Unfortunately they didn't install automatic train operation, so trains will be operated manually on the new line.

Actually, they will increase gradually the hours of operation after the Olympics, so it could actually start fully operating sooner than expected.

There's no autopilot system on Line 2, which has been operating for decades.

The 30th of what month? July/today? August after the Olympics end? September way after the Olympics end?

How far away is Barra da Tijuca from the Lagao area? I'm asking because I'm curious if we'll be able to see the fireworks from our balcony during the opening ceremony.

The Lagoa is behind (far side from beach) the Ipanema neighborhood.
It is fairly far from Barra. Even if your balcony were facing in the correct direction, fireworks would probably not be visible; there are mountains in the way. Take a look at a map of the city.

The opening ceremonies are being held at Maracana Stadium in Tijuca. Much closer than Barra da Tijuca but still blocked by the mountains in the opposite direction.

Thanks so much for posting this! I happen to have a Chase United Visa, which I never use-- glad I haven't cancelled it!
It's on a terrace of the Copacabana Palace Hotel! That sounds nice.

HMMMMM....

There's a sort of terrace at street level just in front of the Copacabana Palace Hotel. Using it would not require entering the hotel.

Inside the hotel, there's a small terrace around the pool which leads off of the outdoor tables at the casual breakfast and all day dining restaurant. Space would really be limited here and would prevent hotel guests from using the pool. The space also cannot be blocked off from hotel guests staying in the tower annex building or those going to/from the health club or the hotel's other two more formal restaurants and the more formal bar.

There's a large terrace that seems to be designed for receptions and other events off of the event rooms that are old floor up from the lobby in the main (older) building. It's wide and stretches the entire length of the iconic building, including an area on the roof over the casual restaurant that seems to provide additional lounger space for those who want to sunbathe and cannot find space on the pool's small deck. There's a coat check place across the hallway from the sort of large writing room (from a different era) room in a large alcove flowing off of the upper hallway leading to their function rooms. Getting here would require walking through the lobby and using the two elevators that lead to rooms in the older main building.

It's hard to imagine how such a VIP lounge won't have severe negative effects on hotel guests. Maybe Chase/United VISA is paying a lot of money to the Copacabana Palace for this.

Ok thanks. Oh well, it would've been nice if we could see it though.

Where's the best (and safest) place to get souvenirs while in Rio? Is there a Canal Street (like in NYC) type of place where we can go?

Don't arrive thinking you're going to get mugged right off the plane or something. It's really not as bad, once you have feet on the ground, as you've read about. Most tourists don't have any incidents at all, or even close.

The Canal Street type place is probably the Saara market, but you'll find souvenirs everywhere.
There is a Feira Hippy on Sunday in Ipanema. There is a feira every evening in Copacabana. There are souvenirs sold on top of Corcovado and Sugarloaf for all the tchochkse, all the Christs-with-arms-out in sizes from mini to huge, you'll ever want, and more, including very high end H. Stern jewelers. There are sarongs (cangas) sold on the beach, as well as many other things (jewelry, hammocks, biquinis, etc). There are Havaiiana flipflops stores. There are handmade jewelry vendors all over on the streets, with wares put out on a blanket. There are some higher end crafts found in stores up in Santa Teresa. And on and on........