The Chinese consortium CRRC Changchun will supply ten new trains, each consisting of four railcars, for Lines 1 and 2 of the metro system serving the Brazilian cities of Salvador and Lauro de Freitas. The bid is valued at 490.4 million reais, equivalent to approximately EUR 84 million.
The government of the Brazilian state of Bahia has approved the tender for the purchase of ten new metro trains for the system in Salvador and Lauro de Freitas.
The winner of the tender is the CRRC Changchun consortium, consisting of the Brazilian subsidiary CRRC Changchun do Brasil Railway Equipamentos e Serviços and the Chinese manufacturer CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles.
The ten trainsets will each have four railcars, for a total of 40 new railcars for Lines 1 and 2. The contract value is approximately EUR 83.9 million at the European Central Bank’s reference exchange rate as of July 17.
CRRC submitted a lower bid than Alstom
Two consortia participated in the tender. The group led by French manufacturer Alstom submitted a bid of approximately EUR 105 million, while CRRC Changchun bid approximately EUR 83.9 million.
The difference between the two proposals was thus approximately EUR 21 million.
The procedure, launched in 2025 by Companhia de Transportes do Estado da Bahia – CTB, the public company responsible for railway projects in the state of Bahia, went through several stages of review and appeals.
Documents published by CTB show that appeals and responses were submitted by both consortia, and the final resolution of these was published on July 6, 2026. The tender result was approved one day later.
Ten trains for Lines 1 and 2
The new trains will supplement the fleet operating on the two lines of the Salvador and Lauro de Freitas metro system.
The current trains were supplied by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem, a company that did not participate in the new procurement process.
Authorities in Bahia state that the procurement aims to increase the network’s operational capacity, but they have not yet published a timeline for the manufacture, delivery, and entry into service of the trains.
The approval of the tender allows CTB to proceed with formalizing the contract with the Chinese supplier. To date, the date for signing the contract has not been officially announced.
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