10/27/2008 11h08
Biggest Country bottleneck to be solved this year
Gazeta Mercantil 11/27/2008
The railway crossing of the city of São Paulo should have a solution in the end of this year. The director of the National Agency of Terrestrial Transportation, Noboru Ofugi, said that the Federal Government will define which project will be implemented in the São Paulo capital. The crossing of São Paulo is a project that has not had any progress for at least three years - the previous project was the construction of a rail beltway
that would connect MRS Logísitca's network to the network of the América Latina Logística (ALL) running outside the city. The project for the construction of a line for cargo alongside the network of the CPTM (São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company), referred to as segregation, was an alternative found by MRS to solve the "biggest railroad bottleneck of the Country". In the downtown stretch, at the Luz Station (
Estação da Luz) (SP), the project foresees the construction of a tunnel for cargo transportation to the port of Santos. For the construction of the tunnel, the studies estimate investments of R$ 800 million (US$ 355.5 million). The assistant secretary of development of São Paulo, Luciano Santos Tavares de Almeida, said the Federal Government was likely to invest nearly R$ 300 million (US$ 133.3 million) in the rail crossing of São Paulo. "Indeed, the chosen project should gather the interests of all parties involved, the Federal Government, MRS and the CPTM. That is not easy", said Almeida. The secretary believes the most feasible solution is the construction of a railroad system alongside the CPTM line. "Such project is expected to be approved since we already have the indications MRS will invest in the solution of the problem. This issue will surely be solved already in the first half of next year. There is no way to keep delaying it because that will restrict the transportation of cargo in São Paulo even more", emphasized Almeida. The president of MRS, Julio Fontana Neto, said the company studies investing up to 30% in the project of the rail crossing of São Paulo. "We have until March, 2012, to execute the works, since the CPTM has expansion plans that will be have been concluded in five years' time. If this issue is not solved, the system will get stuck", said Fontana. According to him, MRS is working in order to approve the project of the segregation of the CPTM lines and the construction of the north stretch of the rail beltway
. "That is the less expensive and faster solution. Time is our challenge now", emphasized the officer. The company, according to Fontana, has already started the environmental feasibility studies and has already filed for the environmental license at Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) for the work of some segments. "In case the project is implemented, there is the possibility of the construction of large multimodal terminals along the entire new network. The idea is to have a dry port connected to the port of Santos for clean products in the region of Mooca. We have already started the studies and the conversations with the administration of São Paulo ", said Fontana. Another terminal that may be built, according to the officer, would be located in the city of Jundiaí, near Campinas.
