Bullet-train to cost US$ 15 billion
Valor Econômico - 05/12/2009
The Rio-São Paulo-Campinas high speed train shoul cost at least US$ 15 billion. It'll probably have its departure station located in the Campo de Marte airfield, in the north side of the São Paulo capital. In 2014, year it is expected to go into operation, up to 31 million passengers should travel the eight stop stations. Curiously, the greatest flow should be concentrated in the regional connections: the São Paulo-Campinas and São Paulo-São José dos Campos segments, with projection to receive nearly 21 million passengers (almost 60 thousand people a day). The Rio-São Paulo route, taking into account the connections in the territory of the state of Rio de Janeiro - for instance, between Rio and Volta Redonda or Barra Mansa -, should carry nearly 10 million passengers a year.
That is the summary of what it is being discussed by the government today, in complete secrecy, after receiving the study ordered to British consulting firm Halcrow. The report was expected for the end of 2008, but it was delayed and it landed on the hands of the Brazilian authorities in early April, with a few surprises. The most significant of them regards the cost of the train, preliminarily evaluated at US$ 11 billion, which already assured it the condition of the most expensive project of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC, in Portuguese). In its studies, "taking the worst possible conditions", as it was said by a source who is examining Halcrow's report, the consulting firm estimated expenditures exceeding US$ 20 billion. Brazilian consultants have been hired to analyze the layout of the railroad tracks and the budget proposed by Halcrow. The goal is to lower the estimate investment to US$ 15 billion, a value which the government will be satisfied with. The study made by Halcrow strengthened the governmental conviction that the bullet-train is feasible, but also the perception that the direct injection of public funds is crucial. The participation of the government in the project will be estimated after the simulations on the cash flow of the High Speed Train are over. It is very likely that the BNDES-Par and pension funds should be "invited" to participate in the investment, as minority shareholders, but there are no more doubts of the need of investment of direct funds.