The company is seeking an international partnership for the high-speed train in Brazil –

TAV Brasil, a company set up to build the high-speed train that will connect the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, has been authorized by National Agency for Land Transport (ANTT) Seeking international partnerships with contractors to receive assistance in carrying out the work, which has an estimated cost of R$50 billion.

According to the company’s CEO, Bernardo Figueiredo, the initiative to form a partnership came from foreign companies interested in the project that contacted TAV Brasil. The businessman was responsible for leading the first high-speed train project in 2007, when he was director of ANTT, during Lula’s second term.

In 2012, then-president Dilma Rousseff tried to jump-start the project, appointing the CEO to head Itav, the state-owned company that could bid for the work. At the time, the project had not moved forward and Figueiredo had not been given the position.

The director of TAV Brasil reported that some modifications had been made in reference to the initial project that foresaw, for example, 20 kilometers of tunnel in the city of São Paulo that were not contemplated in the new work.

In São Paulo, the train journey must end in the Piritoba region, in the Far North region, while in Rio, the work must end in Santa Cruz. From there, access will be through a partnership with the Supervia network, which will cover 34 stations from Santa Cruz to downtown.

“This is a resolved issue,” said Figueiredo. We will not enter urban centers, but we will seek partnerships. From these points, we can negotiate connections with other networks, or the possibility of establishing branches.

Estimated at over R$50 billion, the work has already become the most expensive infrastructure project in Brazil. It is expected that with international partnerships, about 80% of its value will be financed over a period of 25 to 30 years. The concession to build the new mode of transportation was recently approved by a federal government agency.