Wednesday, April 25, 2007, the Brazilian Ministry of Transportation approved the construction of a bullet train between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, according to Diario La Tercera of Santiago, Chile.  However, I haven’t been able to find anything in A Folha de São Paulo, the leading Brazilian newspaper.  The train will go a distance of 252 miles (405 kilometers) in 85 minutes, whizzing at a speed of 178 miles (286 kilometers) an hour.  The fare will be $61 per person.

At present, buses go the distance only in a matter of six hours, as I know from personal experience.  A bus ticket costs about US $30. Automobiles make the distance in about 5 hours.  Flights take only one hour and cost about US $100.  Unfortunately, São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in Guarulhos, a suburb of São Paulo, lies at some distance from downtown, which is reached only in 45 minutes or an hour by taxi, for around $30.  I presume that a similar arrangement exists in Rio de Janeiro.  If so, the vaunted one-hour flight becomes a three- or four-hour affair, and the fare of $100 escalates to $150 or so.  It is probable, however, that the train terminals will be much closer to town, obviating those expensive cab rides.  Presumably, both cities will eventually connect their Metros to the terminals of the bullet train, which will take seven years to complete.

São Paulo has a metropolitan population of 20,400,000 and Rio de Janeiro has one of 12,200,000.  There are probably few places on the planet where cities as titanic as these lie in such proximity.

The estimated total cost of construction has risen to $9 billion dollars from an earlier $6 billion.  At $9 billion, the cost would be around $36 million per mile, despite the fact that the run of 252 miles includes 56 miles of tunnels.  This compares very favorably with the $63 million per mile that Los Angeles spent on its Gold Line, which idles along at about 45 miles per hour.  I suppose the biggest factor in the cost difference is the relative cheapness of Brazilian labor.

It will take private initiatives to fund and complete the construction, with Italian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and South Korean firms likely to participate.

Argentina also has plans to build a bullet train connecting Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba, the three largest cities in the country.  However, Rosario and Córdoba are only in the 1,500,000 population range.  I passed through both Rosario and Córdoba during my recent stay in Argentina.  The distance from Buenos Aires to Córdoba, the farther of the two smaller cities is 398 miles (641 kilometers), which takes 10 or 12 hours by bus.  The train, which will operate at speeds approaching 175 miles an hour, will cut the time to less than 3 hours.  The estimated cost of the project is only $1.4 billion dollars, there being no tunnels necessary and Argentine wages being less than Brazilian.

In Spanish, ‘bullet train’ is ‘tren bala’, while in Portuguese, Brazil’s national language, it is ‘trem bala’.

The construction of these bullet trains is part of an effort to revitalize the antiquated rail systems of both countries.

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