Rio-SP train approaches Serra and Cabral

With two hours delay (the airport of Congonhas was closed and Sergio Cabral´s plane had that to land in Viracopos) the governors of Rio de Janeiro and of São Paulo, Sergio Cabral and Jose Serra, signed yesterday, at the Bandeirantes Palace, seat of the São Paulo government, a protocol confirming the decision of the two states to actively participate of the studies for the future implantation of the high speed train between São Paulo and Rio.

The reach of the protocol is limited: the two governments shall create two work groups under the coordination of the Metropolitan Transportation Secretary of São Paulo and of the Transportation Secretary of Rio and formed by three specialists of each side to study the project. This will be made in contribution with the BNDES, that is already in charge for the federal government of studying the subject until March of next year. The secretaries Jose Luis Portela and Julio Lopes were present.

From the political point of view, however,  the explicit manifestation of the two governments frees the project from the exclusive responsibility of the federal government and introduces the possibility of active contribution by the states. As Jose Serra said: “Even if the states do not put money in the project, there are all the issues of environmental license, of the use of the land and the construction of the terminals where we can have an important part”. Sergio Cabral agreed: “Even if the project has been started by the Federal Government, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo cannot be on the edge of the studies and of the interventions that will be made in its territories”.

Between the two speeches, the most inflamed was by the Rio governor: “We need to start the project now, so that 10 years don’t pass by and we continue regretting  that the railroad does not exist. Because it is not understandable that a modern train of passengers does not exist binding the two more important cities in the country. It is not a project of the State Rio nor of the State of São Paulo. The Brazilian society wants it “. Serra, on its part, remembered that when he was president of the National Students League, in 1963 and 1964, he lived in São Paulo and went very often to Rio by train: “the trip took the entire night, but I preferred the train to the airplane”. For the governor of São Paulo, however, there are important questions that  need to be defined: which is the real demand – “because the study of the Italians was very optimistical”; if the train is going to have stops, as it seems necessary; and which will be the speed: “we can perhaps think about a half-bullet train, why not?”. Serra concluded saying that his city was São Paulo, but that if he had that to choose any other city to live, this would be Rio de Janeiro.

Fonte: Folha de São Paulo