Almost 20 thousand kilometers of navigation separate the port of Zhangjiagang, in China, from the traditional neighborhood of Lapa, in the West Zone of São Paulo, where the yard of TIC Trens, concessionaire of CPTM’s 7-Rubi line, is located. Between November and January, it was along this stretch that nine auxiliary vehicles ordered by the company traveled.
The operation is as complex as it may seem: in the 12 months between the contract with , logistics and import teams, purchasing, engineering, legal, cargo agents, customs brokers and consultancies were mobilized.
It all starts even before manufacturing. For vehicles ordered by TIC Trens, intended for line maintenance, parts manufacturers are spread across the world. They are gathered and assembled by CRRC, one of the partners of TIC Trens, in four different factories in China.
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“We always try to look at what is the best solution for the project. As CRRC is a shareholder, we have the possibility of identifying the best solutions within”, says the contracts director at TIC Trens, Max Fagundes. “But some of our vehicles are national. There is production of locomotives and wagons in Brazil, for example.”
Some of the maintenance vehicles purchased by TIC Trens, however, do not have national counterparts. This is the case of the overhead network vehicle, a type of wagon adapted so that employees can provide maintenance to the higher electrical networks of the train lines.
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Fagundes explains that the first step after choosing the manufacturer is to develop an executive project involving the manufacturer itself and the buyer to design any customizations for the vehicles. Then comes the construction, manufacturing and assembly phase, when some of the approval tests are carried out.
Among the other items imported by CRRC are a tamper, a machine with vibrating elements that stabilize those pebbles placed on the train tracks; and the regulators, responsible for leveling these same stones.
TIC Trens plans to invest R$14.5 billion (in updated values) in the 7-Rubi line, but does not inform how much of this investment was dedicated to new auxiliary vehicles. Since signing the contract with the government of the State of São Paulo, TIC Trens has already received around 50 vehicles to support maintenance.
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From the ports of Taicang and Zhangjiagang to Santos, where the new trains were unloaded, freighters took 45 to 70 days to travel. Another 10 days are dedicated to unloading and analysis by customs authorities regarding the regularity of the import.
TIC employees on duty monitor, via GPS, the freighter’s route until it is close to disembarking, two days before arrival to receive the trains. “Unloading very large equipment requires a lot of attention, but on the other hand it is easy to carry out the inspection. As the train comes assembled, it is not difficult for inspection agents to check whether it matches the grade”, points out Fagundes.
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From downtown to the capital, transport mobilizes a highway police operation. The vehicles, which can reach 23 meters in length and weigh 111 tons in other cases, are loaded during the night with scouts and need to be studied for transport. In one case, a truck’s tires needed to be deflated before passing over an overpass to accommodate the vehicle.
“In this case we also need to note that it was the beginning of the year, many people returning from the beach and heavy traffic on the highways. In this case we parked the equipment at the port for a few weeks and in the police yard in others and only then continued on the journey”, explains Fagundes.
Carrying them along the railways to the capital is not an option because, before going into operation, the vehicles need to go through a period of specific tests on the lines.
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In total, 47 TIC employees were involved in the logistics of acquiring the new trains. The company is one and the Chinese CRRC.
