CRRC wins São Paulo subway rolling stock auction

China's CRRC won the auction for the supply of 44 trains for Brazil’s São Paulo state subway system.

CRRC offered the lowest price at 3.10bn reais (US$500mn), defeating a bid of 3.12bn submitted by France’s Alstom, a São Paulo state spokesperson told BNamericas.

The subway operator will now evaluate the documents submitted by the company to confirm the awarding of the contract. The evaluation process is likely to take place in the coming weeks and the winner is expected to be confirmed in the first months of 2025, added the spokesperson.

The first trains must be delivered within 21 months of the signing of the contract and all trains need to be delivered within five years.

The trains will be used on metro line No. 2 (green) and No. 3 (red).

The state government will acquire the trains with financing from federal development bank BNDES.

The tender highlighted the growing interest of Chinese players in Brazil’s urban transport segment.

A consortium formed by Brazilian firm Comporte and CRRC won an auction in February for the Trem Intercidades passenger rail system in São Paulo state. The PPP contract to build and operate the 101km line involves investment of around 13.5bn reais, using 15 trains that CRRC will provide.