The federal government is considering using part of the resources from an agreement with Rumo to solve problems caused by frequent train passage in Muretes, a tourist town with a population of about 20,000 located between Serra do Mar and the Paraná coast.
The idea championed by the city council is to build at least one ditch at one of the three points in the city where the railway cuts off vehicular traffic. The municipality estimates the value of the work at 25 million Brazilian reals, which has been asking the union to find a solution for decades.
Changing the railway route is not considered an alternative. In addition to the potential suppression of the Atlantic Forest this would generate in the area, the train is also linked to tourism in the city.
The railway line granted to Romo is used by the union to transport agricultural goods to the port of Paranagua and also for tours promoted by the Serra Verde Express company between the capital Curitiba and Morettes. The route attracts about 250,000 people annually, mainly due to the natural beauty of the place, a protected strip of Atlantic forest.
The history of the railway itself is also remembered for tourists who take the tour. The work was completed in 1885 by the brothers André and Antonio Rebucas, the first black engineers in Brazil, who demanded that the construction of the railway not involve slave labor – the Lei Áurea was approved three years later.
“We are not against railways. We know that the country’s harvest flows through here, the agricultural sector is strong, and the train tour is considered one of the ten most beautiful in the world. But we need a level crossing, because the train runs all the time, 24 hours a day. Aside from accidents,” says the city’s mayor, Junior Brinderoli (PSD).
The railway line crossing the urban area of the city is about 70 km long. “There is no specific time, but in general residents have to wait about 20 minutes standing. Sometimes more, sometimes less. What if an ambulance from Samo or Siati needs to cross? There are trains with 160 cars,” he says.
Brindoli says that all Brazilian municipalities with an active railway line must be compensated in some way, and that the cost of the lower level crossing project in Morites, such as the ditch, will be around R$25 million, hence the need to seek resources from the consortium.
“The municipality cannot afford it. Our budget for the whole year is R$100 million,” he says, who in October participated in a meeting at the National Secretariat for Railway Affairs, organized by federal MP Aliel Machado (PSB-PR), to discuss the matter.
According to Machado, there is already a commitment from the federal government to this work, and the discussion is now on how to implement it.
One of the alternatives discussed at the conference table that month was to use resources generated by the renegotiation of the Romo Malha Paulista concession, whose contract with the federation was recently extended until 2059. The Malha Paulista covers sections (2,118 km in total) of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
But the report from the Ministry of Transport found that the money must come from the Romo Malha Sol concession contract, which includes the Moritz Road. In total, the southern network includes 7,223 kilometers of railway crossing four states, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and also São Paulo.
The idea is to use part of the resources that Romo will pay to the union under an agreement approved last year by the Federal Court of Audit (TCU) under which the company will restore about 100 kilometers of railway between President Ibitacio and President Prudente, in São Paulo.
According to the ministry, the proceeds will generate compensation estimated at up to 250 million Brazilian riyals. “In light of this, the Ministry is evaluating how best to use these resources, including measures to combat urban conflict in Müritz,” the ministry told the reporter.
The ministry did not provide further details. For the mayor, the quickest way to get the work done is for Romo to do the service himself. “We know that public works, because of the bidding process, can take a little longer. Residents have been waiting for decades for a solution to this problem,” Brindroli says.
When contacted by The Report, Romo responded, in a memo, that the Salty Sol concession “is being evaluated by a DOT-led work group, including with respect to potential compensation or rail-related work.”
The Moritz section was awarded in March 1997 and the contract with Romo remains in place until February 2027. The City Hall expects the work to be announced soon and to begin in 2026.