Strong infrastructure, big country

Infrastructure is the pillar that sustains the development of a nation. No country becomes great without a solid base of transport, energy and communications. It is through infrastructure that the Brazil cost is reduced, the territory is connected and balanced growth is promoted between the regions.

In the Brazilian case, the strengthening of the railway network emerges as one of the most effective solutions to modernize national logistics. The new regulatory framework created the necessary environment for the advancement of authorized railroads, opening space for the private sector to invest with agility, innovation and focus on efficiency.

The internalization of the economy, in turn, is the shortest and most logical path to development.

By integrating productive regions in the interior with ports, industrial centers and consumer centers; By integrating cities and regions, the country decentralizes wealth, generates jobs and creates new axes of prosperity.

This internalization only becomes effective with an interconnected infrastructure, in which the rail modal is added to door-to-door road transport, forming an intelligent, competitive and sustainable system.

However, the advancement of authorized railroads faces structural and institutional challenges that need to be overcome to ensure the success of the new model. Among the main obstacles, the following stand out:

– Access to long-term financing: railways require large volumes of investment and long maturity periods. The lack of a specific credit line for the sector makes it difficult to make new projects viable.

– Complex and time-consuming environmental licensing processes, which require greater integration between public agencies and companies, ensuring legal certainty without compromising sustainability.

– Multimodal integration still incipient, with the need for public policies that encourage the effective connection between railways, highways, ports and production centers.

– Deficient complementary infrastructure, especially in areas of interiorization, which requires state support for access, energy, telecommunication and sanitation works.

– Low institutional recognition of authorized railroads, which still lack incentive policies equivalent to the concession railroads, despite representing a modern and decentralized investment alternative.

Overcoming these obstacles is essential to consolidate a new cycle of railway development in Brazil, based on efficiency, sustainability and long-term vision.

Investing in infrastructure is not an expense, it is a State strategy. The strengthening of the railroad network, especially authorized railroads, means opening paths for the future, reducing regional inequalities and repositioning Brazil on the map of global competitiveness.

The railway is not just a means of transport; It is a vector of territorial, social and economic integration. It is the bridge between cities, regions and the productive interior and the export coast.

The authorized ones are the way to create islands of socioeconomic development internalized and connected by road-rail and informational arteries, which will make Brazil giant for its entrepreneurial spirit.

Strong infrastructure is synonymous with a big country. And Brazil has the rails ready to go in this direction.

*José Roberto Barbosa is CEO of the Petrocity Group and president of the Brazilian Association of Authorized Railways (ABRAFA)

Infraestrutura forte, País grande – Tribuna Norte Leste