SP-Campinas train: fare will rise during construction – 05/15/2023 – Market

At Piqueri station, in the north of São Paulo, trains run in two directions, but there are three tracks. This third way is often idle, but things can change. If the state government’s plans work out, that third rail could be the path for something that disappeared from Brazil decades ago: intercity trains.

At the end of March, the government of São Paulo launched a public notice for the creation of a train service between São Paulo and Campinas.

In a note, the Secretariat for Partnerships and Investments said that the proposal received interest from Brazilian groups and from countries such as France, Spain, China and South Korea. In June, the administration of Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (PL) will hold a roadshow to publicize the proposal.

If everything goes as planned, the auction will take place in November. Afterwards, there will be about eight years of work, and the first trips should depart in 2029, on the stopping lines. The express train will debut in 2031.

The plan is to create three services. The main one will be an express, from Barra Funda station to the center of Campinas, with a stop only in Jundiaí. The train will be able to reach 160 km/h and travel the entire stretch in about an hour.

The second, called TIM (Transporte Intermetropolitano), will connect Jundiaí to Campinas, with five stops. And the third already exists: it is the CPTM 7-ruby branch line, which connects cities in Greater São Paulo and neighborhoods in the north of São Paulo, such as Piqueri, to the center of the capital.

However, line 7 will be shortened: it will only go as far as Barra Funda. The branch received 10.8 million shipments at its stations in October 2022, according to CPTM. On average, there were about 350,000 people per day.

The government has determined that the maximum fare for the trip from São Paulo to Campinas is R$64. However, according to the contract proposal, this value will be readjusted annually, even during the construction phase, based on an account that considers variations in the INCC (National Construction Cost Index), the IPCA (Extended Consumer Price Index) and energy tariffs. Thus, the amount to be paid by passengers when the line starts operating will take into account the inflation accumulated during the construction period.

The total cost of the contract was estimated by the government at R$12.47 billion. The state government proposes to pay around R$ 6 billion over the seven years foreseen for the works. It is called the maximum contribution.

In addition, after the work is completed, the government foresees annual payments of R$ 500 million to the company that wins the bid and operates the lines, totaling R$ 13.7 billion. The amount is called consideration, to be paid for 30 years after the start of the operation.

The winner will be the bidder who gives the biggest discount to these annual payments. If the competitors choose to reduce 100% of the value in this category, the second phase of the dispute will be based on the discounts given to the maximum contribution, that of R$ 6 billion.

This dispute model was used in the Rodoanel Norte concession, auctioned in March.

According to the announcement, the service will operate with two different trains. The TIM line (from Campinas to Francisco Morato) will use trains similar to CPTM’s 9500 series, which run on the 7-rubi line. They have eight cars, with few seats: the idea is that only 22% of passengers travel seated when the train is full.

The express train will have to seat between 800 and 1,100 people. The seats must be at least 50 cm wide, have space to stretch your legs, have a socket and a folding table, which would allow you to work on the computer or eat a snack during the trip.

Currently, the city hall of Campinas estimates that around 40,000 people commute daily between the city and the capital. They go by car or bus, in a trip that can last two to three hours, if there is traffic. The train promises to make the same journey in about an hour.

The State government estimates that the express train will be able to serve up to 61,200 passengers per day, at its maximum capacity. The other two services should transport 632,000 travelers per day.

“Demand estimation is essential for the success of the project. So much so that interested companies usually carry out their own studies, instead of relying only on government data”, comments Marcos Quintella, director of FGV Transportes.

“Probably there will be demand. Now whether that demand is enough to sustain the project is another story, because the investments are high”, ponders Quintella.

Although the route already has rails, it will be necessary to electrify the section from Jundiaí to Campinas and make adjustments along the way. The notice provides for other changes, such as relocating the train yard in the Lapa neighborhood.

Another change to be made is the construction of a new railway line, parallel to the current track, for the transport of cargo. The MRS concessionaire agreed to do this work last year, and has until July 2029 to complete it.

Cities with high expectations

The cities in the interior that will be served by the project hope that the work will bring more jobs, residents and property valuation.

“A reflection that we are going to have is a transformation for the real estate sector, with a wide development around the stations”, expects Luiz Fernando Machado (PSDB), mayor of Jundiaí.

Machado hopes that the new line will stimulate the arrival of new companies to the city, as well as the holding of more events there.

In Campinas, the city hall has a project to connect the new train to the Viracopos airport, through another railway line, which will have part of the route on an elevated track. According to Vinicius Riverete, president of Emdec (Municipal Development Company of Campinas), at least two companies have already shown interest in the project.

The cities in the region made agreements with the state government to resolve local issues that could hinder the creation of the new line, such as expropriation of areas neighboring the tracks and improvement of railroad crossing points with the streets. In Jundiaí, 17 interventions of this type were carried out.

City halls say that conversations with the state government about the line have been going on for some years, since the management of João Doria (then in the PSDB) and Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB), who governed from 2019 to 2022.

Transport experts point out that the traffic difficulties on the Anhanguera and Bandeirantes highways should make people opt for the train, even if it is a little more expensive than the bus.

“One of the main bottlenecks is the arrival at Marginal Tietê, something that the road concessionaires cannot solve”, says Creso Peixoto, specialist in transport and professor at Unicamp.

In metropolises in the northern hemisphere, such as New York, Paris and Madrid, the model of suburban trains, intercity services and express trains circulating side by side is common. The model has been around for decades. In Europe, there were improvements such as the adoption of high-speed trains, which reach 300 km/h, in countries such as France and Spain.

In Brazil, intercity trains transported 80 million passengers a year, according to ANPTrilhos (National Association of Passenger Carriers on Rails). However, the modality began to decline from the 1950s onwards, as governments began to prioritize the opening of roads and the use of cars.

“In São Paulo, projects do not always come out quickly, but several subway lines were delivered in recent years. It is not like that in other states. In Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre, we have expansion projects for years that do not get off the ground” , evaluates Joubert Flores, chairman of the board of ANPTrilhos.

The São Paulo-Campinas route was one of the first railroads in Brazil, the Santos-Jundiaí, which began operating in 1867. The extension to Campinas began operating in 1872.

The railway connection was very important to accelerate the economy of São Paulo, as it transported coffee from the interior of the state to the Port of Santos and, in the opposite direction, took newly arrived immigrants to the farms. Today, trains on the 7-rubi line take thousands of workers from the outskirts to the center every day. When the doors open at Piqueri station, at peak hours, you often have to push others to get on board.