MRS releases routes for cargo transport
Valor Econômico
The railway concessionaire MRS Logistics, which operates 1.7 thousand km of rails among Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, is investing R$ 230 million (US$ 135.3 million) in projects aiming at expanding its operations in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo and in the access to the port of Santos. With this, the company wants, at first, triple the capacity of cargo transportation in this region to 24 million tons and in the future reaches 56 million tons.
On Friday, MRS signed with the São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company (CPTM) na agreement to segregation of 12 km of railways in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The segment located between the town of Manoel Feio, in Itaquaquetuba, and Suzano, in the east region of the capital. With this operation, in this course there will be specific lines for cargo and passengers traffic. Today, with a single line, the cargo trains cannot operate at peak hours, reserved for passengers, who have already reached 2.2 million people and should jump to 3.7 million in the coming years.
The start of the works is planned for this year, as soon as the environmental permits was granted, and the end for mid-2012, according to information from the two companies. The investment in this project, considered vital by the concessionaire to accelerate its traffic in the region, will be entirely funded by MRS and is estimated at R$ 100 million (US$ 58.8 million). This operation, the company informs, will allow the interconnection with its line that goes down to the port of Santos, where it is investing additional R$ 130 million (US$ 76.5 million) in new rack locomotives to be able to increase the volume transported in the region of Baixada Santista. One of the cargos, which should grow in the future, is the iron ore for the steel plant of the former Cosipa in Cubatão, which is now a unit of Usiminas. Eduardo Parente, president of MRS, emphasizes that the separation of lines is part of the integrated solution of the transposition of São Paulo, formed by the Ferroanel.
This project had much discussion in recent years, involving state and federal governments, and is still on paper, waiting that a definitive study points the best solution. There are two proposals for the work - the North one, between Manoel Feio and Campo Limpo Paulista, of 66 km, and the South one, of 54 km. The first is valued at up to R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.18 billion) of investment and the second in more than R$ 1.5 billion (US$ 882.4 million). For both, the participation of public resources in the project is essential.