Alcoa negotiates the assembly of trains for Bombardier

Bombardier is about to reach an agreement with Alcoa and sign a contract for the assembly of the first aluminum trains ever produced in the country. This business deal is for supplying the monorail line of the Cidade Tiradentes project, in the East Zone of São Paulo, which was the subject of a tender run by the São Paulo State Government in September, and involves the production of more than 300 coaches.

However, this operation is seen by Alcoa as a pilot project: the ultimate aim is to grab at least part of a package of orders calculated at up to 3.6 thousand coaches by 2016, including light rail vehicles (LRVs), monorail systems, Underground systems and the bullet train.
The deal with Bombardier is practically finalized. According to the Company President in the country, André Guyvarch, other suppliers were approached in Brazil, but the talks with Alcoa were the ones that progressed furthest. A decision, he says, could be made in the coming weeks.

With a total length of 24 km, connecting Vila Prudente station on the Green Line (Line 2) of the São Paulo Underground System to the neighborhood of Cidade Tiradentes in the Eastern tip of the city, this monorail line, with 17 stations, shall run on pillars 15 meters above the ground. The total cost has been put at R$ 2.4 billion (US$ 1.44 billion), of which R$ 1.4 billion (US$ 838.9 million) shall be provided by Bombardier – including trains, electrical and communication systems. In all, there shall be 378 railway coaches, but the first units shall come ready from the Bombardier plant in Pittsburgh, in the United States.

According to Mr. Guyvarch, the coaches need to be made of aluminum, due to their lighter weight. This way, apart from the expected gain in energy consumption, the project as a whole also gains in economy of structure: with a lower load running along the beams and pillars, less concrete shall be needed.

At Alcoa, the project is being implemented by the new business division, which was also the birthplace of the company projects in the oil and gas sector in Brazil. Anderson Oba, the Growth and Market Strategy Manager at Alcoa, says that the company wants to enter this market, with a view to the orders that originated from the preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Company studies show that between 2010 and 2016 there shall be total orders for 3.6 thousand coaches, including coaches for the bullet train – some 400 coaches – and also new orders for Rio de Janeiro and the renovation of 1.3 thousand coaches for the São Paulo Underground, all of which do not as yet have a chosen supplier.

On a world basis, in passenger transport, the first choice is always aluminum, said Mr. Oba. In Brazil, the material has never before been used because most Brazilian projects are still somewhat old – the São Paulo Underground was built in the 1970s and 1980s – and the latest tenders have kept the plan to use stainless steel in the coaches. According to Mr. Oba, the cost of production of trains made of aluminum is similar, while the weight is less – aluminum is 40% lighter than steel. However, in practice, the advantage is not as great as it seems, as steel is more resistant and also requires less materials.

To supply the companies that have set up in Brazil, including Bombardier, Alcoa has established a partnership with Zeppelin, a German company specialized in welding for aluminum and special alloys in large parts. Zeppelin already works together with Alcoa in the production of silos for grain. According to the business plan, Alcoa would supply the aluminum beams from their unit at Santo André, in Greater São Paulo, while Zeppelin would then do the cutting and welding at their plant in neighboring São Bernardo. The so-called box – or chassis – of the trains would then be sent, in the finished form, to be assembled and also receive such attachments as windows, doors, motors and electrical systems, among others. The Bombardier industrial unit, like the other train manufacturers in the country, is based in the city of Hortolândia, in the countryside of São Paulo State.

To supply parts for the bullet train, in Mr. Oba’s opinion, investments tend to be greater. The size of the trains – 25 meters, compared with 17 meters of an Underground coach – and also the high speed both require additional structural resistance. The implications that this fact brings include differences in the heat treatment of the metal and the use of what is known as friction welding, the same type used by Alcoa in the production of tubes used in the drilling of oil wells.