FICO Railroad to Arrive in Mato Grosso, Brazil In 2025

The Logistical Commission of the Soybean & Corn Producers Association of Mato Grosso (Aprosoja/MT) recently visited the ongoing construction site of Brazil’s FICO Railroad.

The 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 North-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, East, and Southeastern coasts (see map below).

After visiting the construction site, the commission indicated that the railroad construction would reach Mato Grosso in 2025 The first major Mato Grosso city on the railroad will be Agua Boa (FICO -1on the chart below) and from there, it will proceed westward to central Mato Grosso and the city of Lucas do Rio Verde (FICO-2 on the chart below).

The FICO Railroad is expected to be completed in 2028. Once completed, it should reduce freight rates by at least 25%. Currently, a large part of the 4 million tons of soybeans produced in the Araguaia River Valley in eastern Mato Grosso are trucked to a rail terminal in the city of Rondonopolis and then onto the Port of Santos.

There will be 20 bridges on the FICO Railroad with the largest being a 1.7-kilometer span over the Araguaia River which forms the border between Goias and Mato Grosso. Once the rail bed is prepared, machinery can lay up to 2 kilometers of track per day at a total cost of R$ 27 million per kilometer or approximately $5 million per kilometer.

When grain reaches the intersection with the North South railroad, it could either be directed north to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean Port of Itaqui in the state of Maranhao or southward to the Port of Santos in southeastern Brazil. When the Integrated West-East Railroad (FIOL) is completed, grain could also be directed to the Port of Ilheus in the state of Bahia.

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.

Tags: Brazil, railway, agricultural commodities, West-East-Midwest Integrated Railroad, construction, Logistical Commission of the Soybean & Corn Producers Association of Mato Grosso, FICO Railroad