Brazil tries another go at bullet train project

A company called TAV Brasil has just signed a contract with Brazil’s land transportation agency ANTT to create a new high-speed railway connecting São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the country’s two biggest urban centers. 

At first glance, the idea seems like a revival of a project President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva started to push forward almost a decade and a half ago. Albeit a much less ambitious version of it. In addition to being shorter, the new project would be entirely financed by the private sector. The possibility of a fully private railroad in Brazil has existed since 2021, when the Jair Bolsonaro administration enacted a new regulatory framework for the sector.

Prior to that, private companies had to participate in tenders to operate stretches of existing railroads or build new ones through concessions and under projects entirely developed by the government.

Now, companies can make a proposal with a minimum amount of information, such as basic layout, total cost estimate, schedule, and operating terms (from 25 to 99 years), and ask for government authorization to get the idea off the ground. ANTT has already authorized 39 projects by companies and private consortiums. Whether they will get off the ground depends on the companies proposing them.

TAV Brasil was incorporated in February 2021, with a share capital of BRL 100,000 (USD 19,200). It...