SP maintains project of train to Guarulhos
Valor Econômico - 04/23/2008
The federal government's forecast that the high speed train connecting the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro should have a branch to the Guarulhos airport does not change the São Paulo state government's plans to build the Expresso Aeroporto (Airpot Express), a railway connection between the Luz station, in the center of the capital, and the Cumbica passenger terminal, in Guarulhos According to São Paulo state's Secretary of Metropolitan Transportatin Jose Luiz Portella, the only possible integration between the two works will be the use of a common station. « The connection with Guarulhos is the Expresso Aeroporto, a project that is ready, with or without the high speed train", says the São Paulo sate secretary. According to him, the public notice of the works is on the government's hands and depends only on the release of the use of the terminals in Cumbica by Infraero. The public hearing with the final details of the project has not been held yet. The publication of the public notice, which was promised for last September, is now expected to happen in two or three months. At the end of the second semester of 2007 the government considered concluding the public bid in May this year. The cost of the works, according to Portella, will be R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.14 billion), with public investment of R$ 700 million (US$ 400 million). The concession of the line will be of 25 years, but, differently from what had been done until then, it is no longer called a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) by the government. According to Portella, the line will be bid as a common concession, but "preceded by public investment". The private initiative will be responsible for investing the remaining R$ 1.3 billion (US$ 742.9 million). The Expresso Aeroporto will have 31 kilometers of extension and will run non-stop between the terminals, in a course of nearly 20 minutes. In the Luz Station, the intention is having stands of the air companies to make an anticipated « check-in ». The possibility of having a branch between the high speed train and the airport of Viracopos, in Campinas - as announced by the Civilian Household - was confirmed by the secretary as a request of the State. Since last year São Paulo sate's govenment has been trying to get funds from the Federal Government to leverage a surface train project between the capital and Viracopos, which is already called Expresso Bandeirantes (Bandeirantes Express) by the people of São Paulo. However, the secretary still sees the issue with caution. ‘It is a request of ours, but it has not been approved yet. There are companies making the high speed train feasibility study, and anything said before they conclude the feasibility survey is guessing ", said Portella.