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São Paulo state has announced that it plans to issue a tender process to develop a intercity passenger railway through a PPP project.

The rail system will be 431km long and have two routes, the Norte-Sul (north-south) and the Leste-Oeste (east-west). This express railway will require more than US$8.9 billion in investment, 30 per cent of which will be funded publicly and 70 per cent of which will be funded privately.

The first phase of the project involves the construction of a 135 km railway linking the city of Americana to state capital São Paulo. The investment for this phase is estimated at Rs 5.5 billion (US$2.5 million). The contract will also include implementing control systems, purchasing rolling stock and operating and maintaining the system for a period of 35 years.

The tender process for this initial phase is scheduled to start by the end of this year. It is expected that the PPP model will be similar to the concession model used for the state capital's metro line 6  which was awarded to the consortium 'Move São Paulo', formed by Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvão, UTC Participações and Eco Realty Fundo de Investimentos. The consortium had been the only bidder for the project.

The rail network will connect state capital São Paulo to the cities of Campinas, Americana, Jundiaí, Santo André, São Bernardo, São Caetano, Santos, Sorocaba, São Roque, São José dos Campos, Mauá, Taubaté and Pindamonhangaba, according to initial plans disclosed in 2013.