Estudo da capacidade do tráfego ferroviário com vistas ao aumento do transporte de cargas do corredor de exportação Rondonópolis - Porto de Santos

Abstract

Railway freight transportation has been taken as a safe and efficient modal when compared with others, and its participation in the freight transport matrices of the most important countries in the world has been increasing with time. In contrast, Brazil still depicts a weak presence of railways in its freight transport logistics, and this requires massive investment levels to reverse the participation of each modal. There is an unequal distribution of railways within the country, since many corridors are not explored as they should be and other lines are overloaded. In this manner, it is important to calculate the current traffic capacities of the railway network to determine the priorities and the needs for future investments. By following this approach, the present study aimed at identifying the practical capacities of the track segment between the cities of Santa Fé do Sul (SP) and Araraquara (SP), wich belongs to the export corridor between Rondonópolis (MT) and the Santos seaport in the countrysideof the state of São Paulo. Then, it was possible to compare the results with the future demands for the corridor in terms of number of trains per day. Calculations were made according to three analytical methods (Colson, UIC 405 and RFI) that were applied to the database created by the current concessionaire Rumo Logística. The outcomes were processed and the comparisons were conducted from a statistical point of view, thereby making it possible to have a qualitative approach for each method. The Colson’s and UIC 405 methods were the ones that best fitted to the operational model of the studied track segment, and the RFI method did not yield satisfactory results – it is believed that RFI would be better fitted to a railway with a simultaneous operation of passenger and freight trains. It was also possible to use the UIC 405 method to carry out simulations considering all single lines as fragmented into two blocking sections, and this increased by 15% (in average) the capacity of the segment. According to Colson and UIC 405, seven single lines distributed within the segment would show a degree of saturation (i. e. a relationship between the predicted demand and the estimated capacity) higher than 100% up to 2025, and the same can be said for three more single lines up to 2058. Even with a possible increase in capacity by considering two block sections in the single lines, further investments are required in at least eight out of a total of 24 lines within the studied segment.