BRAZIL: Formal consultation on a proposal to alter the planned route of the third stage of the Ferrovia de Integração Oeste-Leste project so that it connects directly with the Ferrovia de Integraçao Centro-Oeste scheme is to start at the end of January 2025.
Announcing this in an interview with Folha de São Paulo, Director General of national land transportation agency ANTT Rafael Vitale said that the proposal would see the final section of FIOL altered so that it ran southwest from Barreiras to Mara Rosa rather than directly west to Figueirópolis. Located in Goiás state, Mara Rosa is the starting point of the first phase of the FICO project to Água Boa in Mato Grosso. Both Figueirópolis and Mara Rosa are located on Ferrovia Norte Sul which joins São Paulo state in the south with Maranhão state in northern Brazil.
It is understood that the Ministry of Transport has already begun economic and technical feasibility studies for the revised route. ‘This change seeks to integrate the two railways more efficiently and boost investments, creating a nationwide logistics corridor’, Vitale said. Discussions are reported to be in progress for mining company Vale to take on the project.
