Brazilian govt. will release funds for TAV

After the public hearing period for the bidding of the Brazilian bullet-train between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the Brazilian government decided to change some rules, to make the project more attractive for the private sector: the maximum and controlled ticket rate, will apply only for the Economic Class, and only in the center portion of the Rio-Sao Paulo center. The other rates, for intermediate route, will be released.

“We will protect one specific lane of rate”, said Bernardo Figueiredo, director of ANTT (Agencia Nacional de Transportes Terrestres).

The justification is that the tariff policy needs to be as close as possible to the one used on the airlines, the main competitor of the bullet-train. On plains, the person who buys a ticket earlier, on low season, pays lower rates, and who buys just in time, on the company’s counter, pays a higher rate. On this system, the companies make a crossed subsidy between passengers in order to maintain the profitability.

The High-Speed Rail project must have its definitive announcement published by the end of this month. The work is the biggest of GAP (Growing Acceleration Program), it is tacked in US$ 18 billion and arouses the interests of business groups from six different countries: South Korea, China, Japan, Germany, France and Spain.

The definition of the winner will be made through the combination of two criteria: the one who ask for less money borrowed from the government (70% of weight in the offer) and the one who offers the lowest rate for the route (center of Rio de Janeiro-center of Sao Paulo).

In the public tender that went for public consulting, the highest free was US$ 0,28 per kilometer, totalizing US$ 115 between the cities centers (from Barao de Maua station, on Rio, to Campo de Marte in Sao Paulo). The whole route goes from Rio de Janeiro to Campinas.