The pressure for a regional train in São Paulo is increasing

The delay on the bullet train project connecting Campinas, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro put the Government under pressure to deploy a Medium-Speed Rail connecting the City of São Paulo to Campinas. When Bernardo Figueiredo, responsible for the High-Speed Train negotiations between São Paulo and the market, left his job as a chief of the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT – Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres), it further instigated the group that wants the São Paulo’s Government to implant the regional train as soon as possible.
The Governor Geraldo Alckmin agreed with the President Dilma Rousseff the support for the bullet train project, and he has kept his position in spite of federal project’s problems and the pressure of both politicians and companies made in favor of the regional project.

Industry’s entrepreneurs, politicians of the area and some technicians of the State stand for the idea to expand the project to Campinas, since it is almost ready for the bid, from a rail connection between the State of São Paulo and Jundiai.

The regional train could be ready in three years – in comparison to the minimum of eight years needed for the High-Speed Train.

There is no doubt that the request that the train go  to Campinas is a reality. Both projects can be done at the same time, says Vicente Abate, CEO of the Brazilian association of the Rail Industry – Abifer (Associação Brasileira da Indústria Ferroviária).

The 47-km trip to Jundiai is estimated in 25 minutes. And in25 minutes more it shall be possible to go to Campinas with a train travelling at 160 km/h.

The bullet train would have a much shorter to Campinas, estimated in 21 minutes, but the problem is the tariff’s price.

According to the survey made by the Federal Government for the bullet train, the price celing for Campinas is about US$ 33.13. For a Medium-Velocity Train, a passenger will be paying less than half of it.

There are some people in favor of the idea that both projects can be together. The reason is that the demands would be different and there would be passengers for both, according to the Professor Telmo Porto, of Escola Politécnica da USP.

I have no doubts regarding the demand for both trains. A regional train to Campinas shall have, at least, six stations, and the bullet train shall be a direct connection, affirmed Porto.

Cannibalization

However, companies working on the bullet train project are afraid that one project “cannibalizes” the other. The reason is that the intention of the Federal Government and Government of São Paulo is to make concessions, which means that private power is going to construct and operate the systems.

If this occurs, it could be a battle between the two rail operators within the same region, which does not occur anywhere in the world due to the fact that almost all operators are state operators or exclusive concessions within each area.