The daily routine of thousands of passengers is at stake in the face of the Gumi company’s decision to hand over the Supervia concession, the urban train system in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Despite the withdrawal announced last week, on the grounds of financial difficulties experienced since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, it is still not known until when the current concessionaire will be in charge of the service. Experts heard by Agência Brasil think that the lack of transparency surrounding the management of the public service makes a more accurate analysis difficult. However, they consider that the poor quality of the service has a bearing on the crisis, which cannot be fully related to the covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, they believe that the situation can be an opportunity to review old problems and take a step towards a more satisfactory service. “What was it like before the pandemic? Were the stations in good condition? Have you ever heard of a train not arriving on time? Or that the trip is not exactly as scheduled? The system has been bad for a long time. Every day in the morning I follow the news on the radio. There’s always a problem in some branch. So, you can’t come and say that the problem is in the pandemic. Coimbra for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Coppe/UFRJ). Despite the financial statements released by Supervia on its website, he considers that the information made available is not enough to understand how much the poor quality service has an impact on revenues and expenses. It would be difficult to know today, for example, how many passengers who could use the train prefer other means of transport or if there are expenses associated with poor maintenance. For Leandro da Rocha Vaz, professor at the Department of Civil Construction and Transport at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), the recurrent reports of overcrowding in trains make questionable the discourse of reducing passengers, since not even the current demand in the peak hours would be satisfactorily attended to. “What we see is that there is a lack of more trips”, he says. According to him, one of the main challenges of this type of service is to keep it running regularly. “The constant stoppages affect the flow of passengers and generate financial impacts”, he adds. Last year, problems were listed in a survey produced by the Regulatory Agency for Public Transport Services (Agetransp), an autarchy linked to the Rio de Janeiro government that supervises rail, road and water transport concessions in the state. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, 69% less express trips were being carried out. Agetransp itself has applied fines to Supervia for non-compliance with the contract, including for lack of planned investments. The search for solutions to problems such as overcrowding of wagons, delays and increased travel times had been the agenda of meetings between Supervia and the state. The news of the granting of the concession by the company Gumi became public through Governor Cláudio Castro, after another meeting, which took place last Thursday (27). At the time, he promised a smooth transition, without interrupting services, and assessed that the current concession model does not work. “We are going to start with a new concession model that meets the expectations and respects the population’s rights”, he added. Concession model Supervia serves 12 of the 22 municipalities in the metropolitan region of Rio. There are 104 stations and 270 kilometers of tracks, divided into five branches and three extensions, through which mainly residents of the northern part of the capital and cities in the Baixada Fluminense travel. Leandro said he hopes that a new concession contract will give the Government effective instruments to monitor and demand compliance with the stipulated goals and obligations. Balassiano argues that a new concession model needs to be developed by rethinking state action. “The granting authority, which in the case of urban transport is the state or municipality, is the one who must say what it wants and how it wants it. And we have seen concessions that only favor the operator. And when the operator does not do what it should be done, the granting power has no way of solving the problem”. According to the professor, the management of the urban train system, even though it is a state concession, should have an administrative structure with the participation of municipal representatives. In his opinion, facing the challenges depends on engagement and the distribution of responsibilities among all stakeholders. “The most important thing in mobility is mobility management. You can’t treat each mode in isolation. That’s why everyone needs to be involved. This train has to be integrated with the bus in each city, with the subway, with the BRT”. According to him, there is no lack of technical capacity to improve the service. “We have highly qualified technicians, both at the State Department of Transport and at the city government of Rio. There are many people who work there who have gone through UFRJ. They have master’s and doctorate degrees”, he adds. He recalls that there are security issues that also require collective mobilization. The constant cable thefts have been repeatedly cited by Supervia as a factor that affects the functioning of the service and causes losses. Despite acknowledging the Government’s responsibilities, Balassiano considers that the company needs to be better prepared to defend its assets. History The operation of urban trains in the metropolitan region of Rio was granted to the private sector in 1998. At the time, Consórcio Bolsa 2000, which took control of the system for 25 years after winning the auction with a proposal of R$ 279.7 million, created Supervia Trens Urbanos SA In 2010, the Odebrecht Group took over 61% of the company’s shareholding control and negotiated with the state government the renewal of the concession. An amendment was signed extending the contract until 2043, with the commitment of investments of R$ 1.2 billion in improvements to meet the passenger demand expected with the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. , the Odebrecht Group disposed of most of its shares in 2018. That was when Supervia was taken over by the company Gumi, a subsidiary of the Japanese group Mitsui, which became responsible for 88.67% of the share control. Supervia claims that it carried, on average, 600,000 passengers and that its operations were drastically affected by the pandemic. Even with the end of the health crisis, there would have been only a partial recovery, which would not be enough to pay for the maintenance of operations. In 2021, still during the pandemic, a request for judicial recovery submitted by Supervia was accepted by the Court. Its debts were estimated at R$ 1.2 billion. Through judicial reorganization, companies that are in financial difficulties are able to paralyze any seizures and blockages in their accounts and gain a deadline for negotiation with creditors. In August of last year, the concessionaire claimed to be transporting around 350,000 passengers per day and obtained financial compensation from the state government. By means of a contractual amendment, an emergency reimbursement in the amount of R$ 251.2 million was agreed. Chronic problem Balassiano observes that Rio de Janeiro accumulates chronic problems associated with transport. The scrapping of the bus service on the BRT system led the city hall to carry out an intervention last year. The CCR Group, which operates the ferry service that crosses the Guanabara Bay, has already threatened to return the concession a few times. Galeão Airport is also going through a crisis that has generated discussions to increase the number of flights. “Mobility needs to be taken a little more seriously. It is essential for the city’s development. Better urban mobility will provide better commerce, better industry. People arrive at work rested if they have traveled sitting on the bus or on the train. If they know how how long the trip will take, she knows what time she needs to leave the house. She will work much better. He welcomes the measures adopted in relation to the BRT. After the intervention, the city hall reached an agreement with the companies: all buses would be monitored in real time, and the municipality would make an additional transfer as long as the operation was taking place at the contracted frequency and in the correct way. For Balassiano, subsidies can be used as long as the contract is balanced and the need is proven. “Clarity is often lacking. The contract provides for 200 trips on a given corridor, the operator only makes 100 and that’s it”.
Agência Brasil
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