May 01, 2024
Work Progressing on Brazil's FICO-FIOL Railroad
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Brazil's latest railroad project, West-East-Midwest Integrated Railroad (abbreviated FICO-FIOL for its Portuguese name Ferrovia de Integracao Centro-Oeste (FICO) - Ferrovia de Integracao Oeste Leste (FIOL) is a 2,150-kilometer railway aimed at linking the Nort-South railway network with the East-West and the Midwest regions of the country, where large volumes of agricultural commodities are produced. Once completed, it will be possible to transport goods from central Brazil to ports located on the North and East coast.
Officials from Brazil's National Land transportation Agency (ANTT) recently visited the FICO 1 section that will link Mara Rosa, Goias with Agua Boa, Mato Grosso and reported significant advances in the construction. The grading of the 383 km section is currently 13% complete and it is scheduled to be 33% complete by December 2024. Work connecting FICO with the North-South Railroad at Mara Rosa is nearing completion, which will facilitate the movement of materials westward to the construction sites.
When FICO 1 is operational, grain produced in eastern Mato Grosso could then be shipped to the Port of Santos in southeastern Brazil or the Port of Sao Luis on Brazil's northeastern Atlantic Coast. When FICO 2 is completed linking Agua Boa and Lucas do Rio Verde in central Mato Grosso (505 km), it will be possible to ship grain from central Mato Grosso to southeastern or northeastern ports.
The North-South Railroad (orange on the map below) is already operational. When FICO-FIOL is complete (red on the map below), the cost of moving grain produced in central Brazil to export facilities will be greatly reduced. Currently, most of that grain is transported by truck, which is the most expensive way to move grain in Brazil.
The map and chart below illustrating the extent of the FICO-FIOL railroad is courtesy of DB Engineering & Consulting.
View of the different phases along the corridor to integrate the railroad network.