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JOIN Supports Urban Passenger Railway Transportation Project in Brazil

Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (“JOIN”, Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President & CEO: Takuma Hatano) received approval from Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on December 9, 2015 to invest approximately JPY5.6 billion in the planning of four urban passenger railway projects in Brazil. The project will be carried out together with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("MITCO", Head Office: Tokyo, President & CEO: Tatsuo Yasunaga) and West Japan Railway Company (“JR-West”, Head Office: Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, President: Seiji Manabe).
 
This project will be led by Ode Mobilidade S.A. (OM), the company formed from the joint investment by one of the Brazilian leading conglomerate Odebrecht Group and the Japan Group comprised of MITCO, JR-West and JOIN. The four rail projects are 1) Suburban Railway in Rio de Janeiro (SuperVia in operation), 2) Subway Line No. 6 in Sao Paulo (operation planned to start in 2021), 3) Light rail Transit in Rio de Janeiro (operation planned to start in 2016) and 4) Light rail transit in Goiania City (operation planned to start in 2018). It will be a full-fledged participation by Japanese companies in the overseas railway projects.
 
Brazil is the host country for the Olympic and Paralympic planned in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. As such, there is urgency in strengthening the city’s transportation capacity. The four planned railway projects are expected to appropriately absorb the traffic demand of the respective cities and we hope it will contribute to the development of the city’s infrastructure going forward.
 
JOIN and JR-West will participate in the project through acquiring a portion of the shares owned by MITCO, which has been involved in the investment of the project from November 2014. Going forward, JOIN will facilitate to smooth negotiations with the state and municipal governments to minimize the risk of the Japanese companies that participate in the projects. At the same time, we will make the best use of Japan’s know-how on railway operation and consign Japanese engineers to provide training for local engineers to enhance safety measures and services.
 
Conventionally, Japan accumulated its experience in overseas railway related business through exports of rolling stocks and signal equipment but has not had full participation in the overseas railway projects by a railway operator. Going forward, we hope that experience accumulated in overseas railway operation as a result of the support by JOIN and the participation by JR-West will contribute to further promote Japanese railway companies’ participation outside of Japan.
 

JOIN Supports Urban Passenger Railway Transportation Project in Brazil（315/KB）