R$ 27.6 billion will be invested in the largest railway in Brazil under an agreement that renews the VLI concession in Centro-Atlântica for another 30 years and returns to the Union about 3,100 km of tracks considered deficient, which may go to new operators.

Written by Bruno Teles

Published on 23/05/2026 at 13:33

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The largest network in the country will shrink by almost half in the process: from the current 7,200 kilometers, VLI will keep 4,100. The government is racing against the clock because the contract expires on August 27, and the bet reverses the old logic by taking money from locomotives and wagons to concentrate almost everything on track recovery.

An investment of R$ 27.6 billion is expected to be applied to Brazil’s largest railway in an agreement that renews VLI’s concession on the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica, FCA, for another 30 years. On May 22, 2026, the Ministry of Transport announced that it had reached a final proposal for the early renewal of the contract and forwarded it to the National Land Transport Agency, ANTT, which should send the draft to the Federal Court of Accounts, TCU, responsible for the final approval of the deal.

There is urgency in this negotiation. The current 30-year railway contract expires on August 27, 2026, and if the new agreement is not approved by the TCU by then, the ministry will have to resort to an addendum, with the possibility of extending the contract term in force for another two years. Under the approved design, the network under VLI’s concession will shrink from the current 7,220 kilometers to 4,110 kilometers, with the return to the Union of about 3,110 kilometers of sections considered inactive, unprofitable, or economically unviable.

How the agreement of the largest railway in the country works

The proposal was crafted between the Ministry of Transport and VLI, a concessionaire formed by the mining company Vale, the manager Brookfield, the Japanese Mitsui, and BNDESPar, the investment arm of BNDES, as well as investment funds. The FCA is the largest railway in Brazil by extension, with 7,220 kilometers of lines spread across seven states, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Sergipe, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, as well as the Federal District.

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The sections that will leave the concession

The return of 3,110 kilometers involves historical lines of the railway network. Among the sections that will leave VLI’s concession are the corridors from Divinópolis to Engenheiro Bhering, in Minas Gerais, Alagoinhas, in Bahia, to Propriá, in Sergipe, Recreio, in Minas, to Campos, in Rio de Janeiro, and Itaboraí, in Rio, to Vitória, in Espírito Santo, as well as Pirapora to Buritizeiro, in Minas, and Roncador, in Goiás, to Brasília, in the Federal District, among other industrial branches.

These sections, classified as inactive or deficit, may be offered to new operators by the Union, under a simplified authorization regime, through public calls or new concessions. Some of these corridors already have projects underway, such as a section in Espírito Santo and a passenger train planned to connect Brasília to Luziânia, in the Federal District, which shows that part of the returned network may find new use outside the hands of the current railway concessionaire.

The strategy shift: tracks instead of wagons

One of the most significant changes in the agreement is in the investment profile. In the original contract, the priority was locomotives and wagons. In the new modeling, resources focus on the structural recovery of the tracks and the fixed infrastructure of the railway. Investments in the so-called permanent way, which includes tracks and sleepers, will total around R$ 8.2 billion, while spending on the trains themselves has plummeted from about R$ 12 billion, in previous versions of the proposal, to R$ 3.1 billion.

This inversion reflects a technical diagnosis of the network’s condition. Audits indicated that a large part of the more than 7,000 kilometers of the FCA is unused or with very low traffic, with regular use concentrated in a fraction of the network. Therefore, the bet has shifted to recovering and modernizing the physical infrastructure of the sections that really have movement, instead of spending heavily on the purchase of rolling stock for a partly idle network.

Bahia at the center of the negotiation

Bahia has become one of the central points of the agreement, under the justification of promoting the recomposition of public policy guidelines and the federative balance between the states. In practice, investments originally planned for sections with problems in urban areas, such as in the Federal District, were transferred to railway works in the state of Bahia, redistributing the concession resources.

The ministry also determined that about R$ 500 million should be reserved for priority railway projects in the corridor linking Minas Gerais to Bahia. Among them are the São Félix railway bypass, the Licínio de Almeida railway route, and adaptation works between Tocandira, in Minas, and Brumado, in Bahia. One of the points that VLI committed to maintaining, even being deficit, is the section from Corinto to Aratu, between the two states, with complete replacement of tracks and sleepers.

More access rules and space for passengers

The railway renewal agreement also brings new interoperability obligations, meaning the sharing of the network with other operators. VLI will have to accept new rules for third-party access to the tracks, especially in connection with the port of Santos, in São Paulo, one of the busiest in Latin America. If there is no consensus in renegotiating these entry agreements, the concessionaire may face direct arbitration by ANTT.

Another novelty is the opening of space for passenger transportation on certain sections of the network, which is currently used primarily for freight. The contract now requires FCA to offer up to two daily pairs of passenger trains in corridors with a minimum freight density. The agreement also provides R$ 452.8 million for works to reduce urban conflicts in 46 municipalities, including footbridges, viaducts, and interventions to reduce railway accidents.

The context of the railway revival in Brazil

The renewal of FCA is part of a broader movement of renegotiating railway concessions conducted by the federal government in recent years. Similar agreements have already been reached with other major operators, such as MRS Logística, in the Southeast Network, and Vale, on the Carajás and Vitória to Minas railways, all providing for investments in the network, payment of grants, and new obligations in exchange for extending the contracts for another three decades.

The government believes that renewing early, imposing new requirements, is more advantageous than waiting for the end of the contract and re-tendering the railway from scratch, a decision that reduces risks and resolves issues regarding non-amortized assets. Still, a simplified auction is planned after TCU’s approval, to test if any competitor offers better conditions than VLI, ensuring competition in the network renewal process.

The R$ 27.6 billion agreement for Brazil’s largest railway represents a decisive moment for the country’s logistics, by concentrating resources on the recovery of the tracks and redesigning a network that has grown beyond its economic viability. The return of more than 3,000 kilometers to the Union opens space for new operators and even for passenger trains, but the success of the plan depends on TCU’s approval within a tight schedule and the effective execution of the promised works over the next three decades.

Do you think the renewal of the concession for Brazil’s largest railway will actually improve logistics and reduce transportation costs in the country? Do you believe that returning unprofitable sections to new operators is the best solution? Leave your comment, tell us what you think about the future of Brazilian railway transport, and share the article with those who follow infrastructure, logistics, and economy.

R$ 27.6 billion will be invested in the largest railway in Brazil under an agreement that renews the VLI concession in Centro-Atlântica for another 30 years and returns to the Union about 3,100 km of tracks considered deficient, which may go to new operators.

How the agreement of the largest railway in the country works

The sections that will leave the concession

The strategy shift: tracks instead of wagons

Bahia at the center of the negotiation

More access rules and space for passengers

The context of the railway revival in Brazil

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R$ 27.6 billion will be invested in the largest railway in Brazil under an agreement that renews the VLI concession in Centro-Atlântica for another 30 years and returns to the Union about 3,100 km of tracks considered deficient, which may go to new operators.

How the agreement of the largest railway in the country works

The sections that will leave the concession

The strategy shift: tracks instead of wagons

Bahia at the center of the negotiation

More access rules and space for passengers

The context of the railway revival in Brazil

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Australia prepares to dredge 96.5 million m³ in Moreton Bay to deepen, widen, and realign channels of the Port of Brisbane, in a project of up to 25 years designed to accommodate larger ships and enhance maritime safety and regional port efficiency.

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