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09/15/2009 10h58

Agreement with CPTM marks ABB’s return to railways

Valor Econômico

Last week ABB, a traditional supplier of electric equipment, entered into a US$ 42 million agreement with the CPTM (São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company) for the delivery of the energy substations of three of the longest lines of the company. The agreement marks the return of ABB to the railroad area, betting on the supply of equipment for the expansion of the system in Brazil. The plans aim at the billionaire projects in the railroad area being elaborated at the moment, like the expansion of São Paulo Subway, the airport express and the high speed train (HST).

In 2003, ABB sold T Trans, one of the main plants of railroad equipment of Brazil, and it is now trying to get back to the area. The idea is to grow providing systems and equipment for the new railroad lines, and leave the rolling stock aside, one of the specialties of T Trans. According to Evandro Idalgo, Power Systems Director of the company, ABB, which currently supplies nearly 40% of the telecommunication systems of the lines that belong to the mining companies of the country, entered into its first agreement in electrification with the CPTM, and it intends to sell other control and signaling centers.

The agreement with the CPTM takes a ride on the expansion plan of the Government of São Paulo, a project with an estimate of R$ 20 billion (US$ 10.8 billion) in disbursements in urban trains and subway. The systems supplied by ABB are part of a project to reduce the intervals between the metropolitan trains from 15 minutes to 5 minutes in lines 11, 10 and 8 - the most active ones of the system. ABB has a term of 18 months to produce and install the systems for the CPTM. Part of the equipment to be supplied will be produced at the unit of the group in Guarulhos, and part of it will come from its units located in Finland and Poland. ABB had global earnings of US$ 38 billion in the world, US$ 1.8 billion of which resulting from Brazil - most of it in industrial and electric energy transmission equipment.