Governments debate new outline to guarantee Rail Beltway
Valor Econômico
The Rail Beltway may receive a new outline, including the combination of two segments: the North sector and the segregation of lines - project of MRS that facilitates the access of cargo through its railroad system to Santos. The novelty is the reassessment of the North segment, a project that was abandoned for years due to the high cost and environmental complications, which can be resumed with a new course going through the Serra da Cantareira (Cantareira Ridge), in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
According to Paulo Sérgio Passos, Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Transports, the Government of São Paulo has offered an area beside the course of the North Beltway to install the railway line. The North Road Beltway received a new course at the end of last year precisely to escape from the high cost and the environmental problems that also threaten the segment of the Rail Beltway. Instead of running tens of kilometers to the North of the metropolitan region of São Paulo, in the middle of a region that is rich in springs, the new outline of the road goes through the boundary between the urban area and the Serra da Cantareira, much more to the South of it. In the evaluation of the Government of São Paulo, the course is less environmentally harmful.
According to Passos, the final word on this issue depends on the study ordered by the Ministry to the World Bank (IBRD). The contract for the study has not been closed yet, but the Secretary says it is being designed so that the result is available at the end of this year.
According to Paulo Passos, the resumption of the North sector does not prevent the adoption, at the same time, of the segregation project, which frees up the rail system of MRS inside the city of São Paulo, which has to divide its space with the trains of the CPTM (São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company). According to the project, the construction of a parallel line inside the area of control of the system would quickly and cheaply solve the problem - the North sector, in the initial course, was estimated at R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 667 million) and would be ready in five years. The segregation would cost R$ 900 million (US$ 500 million) and its conclusion would take less time: three years.
The Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Transports says the project to offload the MRS system gains importance with the investment of the company to increase the capacity of the rack, the segment of descent of the Serra do Mar (Sea Ridge) to the port of Santos, which will receive new locomotives that will increase its capacity by 50%. According to Passos, at a second stage, which will involve the civil engineering works, with investments of more than R$ 200 million (US$ 111 million), the capacity will be tripled.