Transnordestina Northeastern Brazil Tender

Location BrazilScope Construction of the huge Transnordestina project in northeastern Brazil. The 2 300 km project is intended to open up parts of the northeastern corner of Brazil with good connections to the deepwater ports at Suape near Recife and Pecm near Fortaleza. The Y-shaped scheme as first planned entails 1 753 km of new construction much of it consisting of a new line from a railhead at Salgueiro to Trindade and Eliseu Martins. This will be supported by upgrading of 560 km of existing metre gauge route and the laying of dual-gauge track. Around 300 bridges and viaducts need to be built. The railway runs through the states of Piau Cear and Pernambuco and passes through 81 municipalities. It was designed to handle 30 million tonnes of freight a year mainly bulk cargoes such as ores soya and other agricultural produce but there are doubts about the volume of traffic reaching this level. The scheme was originally due to have been finished in 2010. Infrastructure Minister stated work on the project would resume this year thanks to R257m being made available by concessionaire Transnordestina Logstica SA owned by steel company Companhia Siderrgica Nacional. Around R64bn has already been spent and a further R63bn will be needed to finish the railway. Completion of the northern branch from Salgueiro to Pecm is now envisaged in 2021 allowing funds to be generated so that the eastern arm to Suape can be finished by 2027.