Brazil's land-transport regulator, ANTT, has asked Vale to explain the origin of 1.16 billion reais of investments booked on the Carajás railway. Folha, in its 17 October 2026 C-Level edition, writes that the sum is tied to the accounting balance of 384 records. The agency wants to know which works the assets came from and whether they were correctly placed in the concession base. This is not a fine and not a verdict: it is a contract check, still open.

What ANTT recognises feeds the calculation of Vale's obligations to the Union. The miner has payments and works to deliver, but also wants credit for investments already made, to cut the balance. In December 2024 Vale, the Union and ANTT sketched a global cap of up to 11 billion reais; 4 billion was paid early. At the audit court (TCU) the deal did not close, according to the Transport Ministry. The same file also covers the Vitória a Minas railway, both extended in 2020 to 2057.

Vale told Folha it stands by the 30 December 2024 bases and its contractual duties, that asset-base valuation is an ordinary step, and that it does not comment on administrative proceedings. ANTT said records are neither recognised nor discarded automatically, that technical criteria apply, and that it is too soon for a result. On 1 October Vale sent more data: 67 records, with a remaining balance of about 92 million reais, are classed as belonging to other projects, including the 101-kilometre branch towards the S11D mine.

Carajás links the iron-ore field in Pará to the Ponta da Madeira terminal at São Luís, in Maranhão. It turns 40 this month and has carried 16 million passengers in its history; last year, 419,000. The dispute over investment money, though, is about freight and the concession, not passenger coaches. In 2014 ANTT had already cut an S11D package from about 11.58 billion to 4.487 billion reais.

Ernst & Young, hired by Vale, defends the records, according to Folha. The agency has asked for „convincing evidence”, on pain of removal from the regulatory asset base. This is not stock-market advice. Vale shares can move on any TCU rumour; the news is that 1.16 billion still sits under review, not that it has been cut or approved.

Image: Fernando Santos Cunha Filho, Carajas railway, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; archive train, not an October 2026 ANTT inspection.

Sources consulted: ANTT scrutinises Carajas and asks Vale about R$1.16 billion - Folha; ANTT expects to conclude analysis of Vale deal - CNN Brasil.