The winner must invest an estimated 7.7 billion reais ($3.7 billion), offer economy class tickets of no more than 200 reais ($100) and guarantee that trains cover the 260 miles (420 km) between Rio and Sao Paulo in no more than 99 minutes.
To qualify to bid, companies cannot have had a fatal accident on an existing high-speed system they operate in the past five years. That's down from the 10 years required earlier.
The new auction to pick the operating consortium will be held on September 9, 2013, at the Sao Paulo stock exchange Bovespa.
A second auction in 2014 will choose the engineering group that will build the track, with a minimum investment of 27.3 billion reais, Figueiredo said.
President Dilma Rousseff has made the train between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro a top priority for her government despite concerns over its high cost and doubts whether it will ever be profitable.
German, French, Spanish, Japanese and South Korean builders and high-speed train operators are expected to compete for the project, which has long been coveted by foreign investors seeking to cash in on Brazil's need to fix infrastructure bottlenecks and prepare to host the 2016 Olympics and 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.
The bullet train will have stations at three international airports: Galeao in Rio de Janeiro, Guarulhos in Sao Paulo and Viracopos in Campinas, Figueiredo said.
Among the companies expected to bid are Germany's Siemens AG, France's Alstom, Canada's Bombardier Inc, South Korea's Hyundai Corp and Japan's Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The winner of the contract will be the bidder that offers the highest fees to the government and a design that costs the least to build, Figueiredo said. - Reuters
what do you guys say???? Although I somewhat want Canada to win. Canada can prove that it also an imp player in high speed rail world if not in the world.
