MRS obtains license for track segregation in São Paulo

This week, MRS Logística has obtained, from Ibama, the appropriate environmental licenses and also a permit for installation of work to segregate the track within the Greater São Paulo metropolitan area, in the stretch between the stations at Manoel Feio and Suzano, over a total length of 12 km. This stretch crosses the municipalities of Itaquaquecetuba, Poá and Suzano. In view of this, according to Valor, the company seeks to commence track segregation work in March. This project should take between 15 and 18 months.

This project, which is interwoven with another company project which is that of the descent of trains to the Port of Santos (cog railroad system), will have an investment of more than US$ 60.02 million. With the project for the cog railroad, the company will be investing some US$ 156.06 million, most of which is for the purchase of special locomotives to operate along this stretch of track.

The track segregation between Manoel Feio and Suzano will establish an exclusive track for the transport of freight, along the track network which is also used by the CPTM for passenger transport.

With this segregation, MRS eliminates the bottlenecks in the access to the Serra do Mar of all freight coming from the Paraíba Valley and also gains greater speed in the transport thereof, which is now limited to special times of day. With the implementation of the cog railroad, which will involve the change of aging locomotives from the 1970s for brand new ones, and also the construction of two track crossing patios in the mountain range, it will be possible to expand the transport capacity from the current seven million tons to 28 million tons of freight in each direction.

 Other benefits which have been mentioned as resulting from this work include the removal of some 2 thousand trucks from the Greater São Paulo metropolitan area and also hundreds more each day on the roads that head towards Santos.