Renata Passos

SÃO Paulo Metro (CMSP) will retrofit 88 platform screen doors in 36 of the Brazilian city’s busiest stations on the Blue, Green and Red lines, with the tender expected to be released later this year and the contract for the four and a half year project due to be signed early next year.

SKYRAIL Bahia, a consortium of Build Your Dreams and Metrorail, has been selected for a Reais 1.53bn PPP ($US 420m) contract to construct and operate a 19.9km monorail line in the Brazilian city of Bahia.

THE Brazilian government has revised the technical terms for the 1142km Ferrogrão project in an attempt to reduce costs and make the concession more attractive for private sector bidders.

THE governor of the Brazilian state of São Paulo Mr Márcio França announced on April 17 that work will resume shortly on the 4.5km extension of Paulista Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) Line 9 (Emerald Line) from Grajaú to Varginha, which has been halted since the end of 2016 due to delays in the transfer of federal funds.

RANDON Implementos, Brazil, inaugurated a new road trailer and railway wagon production facility at Araraquara in the state of São Paulo on March 28.

PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) is set to open São Paulo suburban Line 13 (Jade) on March 31, which will provide a direct rail link to Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil’s busiest, for the first time.

THE municipal government of Sorocaba, a city of 660,000 inhabitants in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, announced at Brazil’s first Seminar on Sustainable Urban Mobility and Infrastructure on March 15 that it will launch a tender before the end of the month for a contract to carry out a feasibility study into its first light rail line.

THE government of the Brazilian state of São Paulo confirmed on March 1 that tendering will begin this month for contracts to build the second phase of the Baixada Santista light rail network, which serves the port city of Santos.

THE Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro has started construction of Line 3 of the Porto Maravilha light rail network, which is being developed by Rio’s Port Urban Development Company (CDURP).

FOLLOWING several years of struggle, Brazil’s difficult economic situation finally appears to be coming to a head, bringing much-needed relief to the country’s embattled railway industry. After all, demand for freight wagons and locomotives is linked to the performance of the rail freight business. But with the recovery now underway, and with the renewal of freight concessions starting, more money is likely to be available to invest in new equipment.