The first phase of China Railway’s first project in Brazil is underway, according to multiple media reports. Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended the inaugural ceremony of the FIOL railway, the first section of which will be ready in 36 months and span the 537 kilometres, between Ilhéus with Caetité.
Subsequent phases will connect Caetité to Barreiras, 485 kilometres further west, and then Barreiras to Figueirópolis. When all sections are complete, the railway will measure 1,527 kilometres, linking the mines of Bahia to Brazil’s Atlantic coast.
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A total of 1.5 billion reais in investment has been financed by the Brazilian mining company Bahia Mineraçao.
The FIOL railway (named for the Portuguese initials of Ferrovia de Integração Oeste Leste) is part of a wider project to link eastern, western and central-western regions to the country’s north-south rail network.
When fully completed, the scheme will make it ship goods from the Brazilian heartland to ports on the northern and Eastern coasts, greatly improving logistics and reducing costs.
