Port of Santos gains new rail hub to expand freight capacity

The Baixada Santista Integrated Operational Control Center will serve as a unified operational planning hub for the railway companies (Vanessa Rodrigues/AT)

More cargo transported in less time and at a lower cost. That is the objective of the new integrated system connecting the four railway concessionaires that operate access routes to the Port of Santos. The increase in logistics efficiency required an investment of BRL 2 billion in infrastructure, including six rail yards and the Baixada Santista Integrated Operational Control Center (CCOI), inaugurated this Tuesday (30) by Minister of Transport George Santoro in the Valongo district of Santos.

"We are delivering this phase, which is an operational interconnection between the railway companies. From a governance perspective, it is important because it improves the Port's productivity. It allows more cargo to be handled in less time within a single operation. This reduces Brazil's logistics costs and enhances safety for the population of Santos by providing solutions to urban operational conflicts", the minister said during a press conference.

From the CCOI, the four railway concessionaires will carry out unified operational planning, synchronizing train movements to make port operations more efficient.

The BRL 2 billion infrastructure works are part of MRS's investment plan under the renewal of the company's concession agreement, approved by the Ministry of Transport and the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT).

Project components

The investments include six new rail yards (Prainha, Jurubatuba, Quilombo, Areais, Campo Grande, and Phase 1 of the Santos rail yard), which will increase train queuing, crossing, and shunting capacity; modernization of the permanent way, including the replacement of more than 90 kilometers of track with TR-68 rail profiles and the installation of 126 track switches (AMVs), enabling an increase in axle load capacity to 32.5 tonnes; and preparation of the railway network to accommodate longer trains measuring up to 2.4 kilometers in length, consisting of 120 to 140 railcars.

The plan also includes the implementation of advanced signaling systems (CBTC and CTC) along the Ferradura rail section, the railway access corridor to the Port of Santos, covering a total of 34 kilometers of track, as well as the Cubatão viaduct and pedestrian overpasses in Santos and Guarujá.

Santoro: a solution to operational conflicts (Vanessa Rodrigues/AT)

Although most cargo bound for the Port of Santos is currently transported by road, Santoro believes that expanding rail operations will reduce truck traffic in the Baixada Santista region. "When you invest BRL 2 billion in rail yards, shunting facilities, and greater railway processing efficiency, rail becomes more competitive than trucking. This will certainly remove trucks from the streets of Santos and Cubatão."

According to the minister, the gains in efficiency will increase rail's share of freight transportation over the next decade. "This will allow us to expand railway capacity, gradually changing this scenario over the next ten years. The plan is to reach 150 million tonnes, more than doubling current capacity. This will likely remove tens of thousands of trucks from the intermunicipal road network."

The company responsible for the project confirms that the integrated operation will make it possible to double rail freight capacity within the next 10 to 15 years. This is because the new system will improve operational efficiency and reduce train transit times. The expected reduction in travel time is approximately two and a half hours per train.

The network will be able to accommodate trains measuring up to 2.4 kilometers in length. Until now, train formations have been limited to approximately one kilometer. With longer trains, substantially larger volumes of cargo can be transported using the same rail corridor.