Without much publicity, after three years of negotiation State Governor Sérgio Cabral has signed the renewal of the concession of the contract to Supervia for a further 25 years, up to 2048. This agreement plans for investments totalling R$ 2.5 billion (€ 1.12 billion) in the Brazilian railway network. The bill will be split between the concessionaire and the Government, whose part will be the purchase of 90 refrigerated trains. Out of this total batch, 34 have already been ordered from Chinese company CNR.
The green light was given in March, when the regulatory body for public transport authorised the Governor to renew the contract. This issue was put on hold until after the elections. Currently, Supervia transports 550 thousand passengers per day with a total of 160 trains. The target is to reach 1.5 million in 2023. For this purpose, the company has committed itself to the refurbishment of 73 stainless steel trains and also to purchase 30 new units. This way, the total fleet will come to 231 train units.
In 2011, the Government will launch a tender for the purchase of 60 trains. With the contractual renewal, there has been confirmation of plans to reopen the former rail link between Santa Cruz and Itaguaí, and also the delivery of the branch line connecting Saracuruna (in Duque de Caxias) and Guapimirim, with a diesel ghost train and a track length of 35.3 kilometres. Nowadays, almost 800 users use this service every day.
– We will be taking over this extension in 180 days. We want to reach a usage level of 10 thousand passengers in a short time, with another three trains on the line. In the case of the line between Santa Cruz and Itaguaí, this will depend on an environmental permit from the Government. When this is done, we will look into the possibility of building four more stations in Caxias, Nova Iguaçu and Queimados.
Shorter Waiting Times in 2012
According to the President of the concessionaire, the main obstacle for the renewal of this contract was the debt of nearly R$ 200 million (€ 89.66 million) resulting from lawsuits against defunct company Flumitrens, which, according to the Courts of Justice, should have been taken over by SuperVia.
– The Government agreed to separate part of the budget to pay off these debts that were falling upon us. At the end of the contract, all the company assets, such as trains and equipment, everything will be taken over by the Government, says Mr Murad.
The new contract also authorises SuperVia to sell up to 15% of their shares to obtain new financial funds on the money market. The investments planned include the installation of the ATP system, which prevents trains from jumping the lights or exceeding the permitted speeds, thereby allowing the control of frequency and also the reduction of the average waiting time to three minutes on the Deodoro branch. On the other lines, the interval between trains will range from six to 12 minutes.
When the service was privatised, in 1998, a contractual clause allowed the renewal of the concession at any moment without the need for a tender process, provided the company presented an investment plan up to 18 minutes before the end of the commitment. SuperVia is now committed to investment of R$ 1.2 billion (€ 537.97 million) on railway services.
The validity of the renewal of the contract commences on 31 October 2023, but the investments are to be made straight away and include, for example, the modernisation of São Cristóvão station for the 2014 World Cup and also the purchase of new trains and the complete refrigeration of the whole fleet up to 2023.
Odebrecht negotiates the purchase of a 60% stake in the company
Currently, SuperVia belongs to four international investment funds based in the Cayman Islands, a well-known tax haven in the Caribbean Sea. At this moment, the company Odebrecht Transport, controlled by the Odebrecht building firm, is negotiating the purchase of a 60% stake in the company.
SuperVia has a total of 89 stations along 225 kilometres of track, divided between the Deodoro, Santa Cruz, Japeri, Belford Roxo and Saracuruna lines. In all, the trains serve 11 cities of the Greater Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region: Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias, Nilópolis, Nova Iguaçu, Mesquita, Queimados, São João de Meriti, Belford Roxo, Japeri, Paracambi and Magé. Now, Guapimirim and Itaguaí will join the system.
By 2009, the concessionaire had invested R$ 545 million (€ 244.33 million) in the business, which is much less than the R$ 1 billion (€ 448.31 million) which should have been invested up to 2001, as the company announced when it took over the operation in 1998.
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