BnamericasPublished: Monday, August 03, 2026
Private Investment Engineering Contractor Company EPC Contractor Company Railway Operator Public Investment
The Brazilian regulator National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) has completed an important stage in its plans to offer the concession of freight railways over a total stretch of approximately 4,250 kilometers, with investments (capex) estimated at 14.3 billion reais (US$ 2.8 billion).
ANTT has concluded the cycle of sessions of the Public Hearing aimed at discussing the future concession of Malha Sul, made up of the Paraná–Santa Catarina, Rio Grande and Mercosur railway corridors.
With the conclusion of the process, the regulator now moves forward to the final drafting stage of the notice.
"The purpose of this stage of the public hearings is to receive suggestions and contributions for the draft notice and the concession contract for the provision of public freight rail transport services, associated with the operation of the railway infrastructure that makes up the three structuring corridors of the Southern Network", ANTT said in a statement.
Southern Network
The Malha Sul consists of three distinct segments: Paraná–Santa Catarina Corridor, Rio Grande Corridor and Mercosur Corridor.
The Paraná–Santa Catarina Corridor concentrates 78% of all cargo transported on the Southern Network and has a length of just over 1,500 kilometers.
In this axis, the cargoes destined for foreign trade stand out, handled mainly by the ports of Paranaguá (PR) and São Francisco do Sul (SC), which account for about 80% of the total transported in the corridor.
Grain exports account for approximately 50% of the volume handled, followed by sugar, with almost 20%. The flow also includes cargo such as pulp, containers, fertilizers, fuels, and cement.
The corridor also serves the agricultural production of western Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul through the intermodal terminals of Cascavel (PR) and Maringá (PR).
Market and demand studies indicate significant growth in grain handling, which could represent up to 60% of the total transported on this rail axis, with emphasis on soybeans, corn, and soybean meal.
The projected capex for the Paraná–Santa Catarina Corridor is 6.8 billion reais, with a 35-year concession contract, according to information from the Ministry of Transport.
The Rio Grande Corridor, in turn, has projected capex of 3 billion reais, while the Mercosur Corridor of the Southern Network has estimated investments of 4.5 billion reais.
Railway auctions
The Brazilian government had an ambitious plan to hold, over the course of this year, up to eight freight railway concession auctions in Brazil. However, delays in the evaluation of these contracts by oversight bodies are expected to cause these auctions to fall well short of the initial expectations.
“I find it very difficult for the government to manage to hold eight auctions this year, not only because of the difficulty of drafting freight railway contracts, but also given the upcoming elections in Brazil, which end up impacting various processes within the federal administration,” said an infrastructure lawyer to BNamericas, asking not to be identified in this report
In October, Brazilians will go to the polls to vote for president, state governors, representatives and senators.
(The original version of this content was written in Portuguese)
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