The first railway auction scheduled for 2026, for the Minas-Rio corridor, was delayed and should no longer take place in April, as initially planned. The notice, which had been expected since January, has not yet been published, and the federal government has readjusted the schedule, with the event expected to be held between July and August
For the CNNthe department’s executive secretary, George Santoro, stated that the document, initially expected for January, should be released by May. As a result, the auction had to be postponed, however, Santoro states that this remains the first railway auction of the year.
The delay is mainly related to the unprecedented nature of the model and adjustments in the process after the TCU (Federal Audit Court) asked to analyze the project, said Santoro. As the Court of Auditors’ prior analysis was not foreseen in the original schedule, it was necessary to readjust the project stages.
At the moment, the proposal is in the final phase of analysis at ANTT (National Land Transport Agency).
The Minas-Rio corridor will be the first auction structured through a public call, a mechanism in which the government offers the market railway sections returned by concessionaires, generally due to lack of economic interest. Interested companies can then take over the operation and make investments.
The general director of ANTT, Guilherme Sampaio, explained that this model should gain prominence in the coming years and that the process will be similar to that of the port sector with a notice, reference project and analysis by the TCU (Federal Audit Court).
