In 2010 then-governor Sérgio Cabral renewed the concession until 2048, without a bidding process, despite the inefficiency in managing metropolitan trains.
In 2013, SuperVia received R$3.4 billion (2013) (US$1.58 billion) to purchase new trains, and invest in the improvement of the metropolitan train system. BNDES released R$1.6 billion (2013) (US$742.08 million), R$1.8 billion (2013) (US$834.84 million) from the state government and the rest of the company's cash. It is one of the most expensive tickets in the country, even without any improvement in the system. Of the current 201 trains, only 75% are new.
An investigation by the Extra RJ newspaper found that a train derailed every 2 months, between January 2017 and August 2019. In addition, the company has several convictions for failure to comply with the obligations established in the contract.
Since March 2020, the concessionaire claims that it lost half its passengers during the pandemic, and it has accumulated a financial loss of R$474 million (US$84.75 million) as a result of a reduction of more than 102 million passengers until June 2, 2021.
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Before the pandemic, the concessionaire transported around 600,000 passengers daily. SuperVia claims that the daily flow has stabilized at 300,000 passengers and has estimated that it needs a daily average of 450,000 passengers to cover operating costs.
Even so, throughout the period of the pandemic, passengers complained about the capacity and lack of conditions. On May 28, a train on the Belford Roxo branch caught fire on the stretch between Del Castilho and Pilares stations. According to the Fire Department, 3 people were injured during the disembarkation, made in haste, between the tracks. A firefighter reported that a composition's extinguisher was empty and could not be used to fight the flames.
The company had also a total of 29.18 kilometres (18.13 mi) of cables stolen from January to November 15, 2021, the quantity of materials taken is already more than triple the total that was replaced by the company in 2020 after the criminal action, when there were 355 cases and 7.47 km (4.64 mi) of stolen cables. The situation worsens on the Japeri branch, which had 323 occurrences and 15.78 km (9.81 mi) cables taken, especially in the regions of Japeri, Queimados and Nova Iguaçu. This means a cost of R$1.5 million with the replacement of this material, this year alone. According to SuperVia, the biggest loss, is for customers, since from January to October more than 1,102 trips were canceled or interrupted. To mitigate actions of this type, the company made adjustments in the installation of cables that result in a cost three times higher than the traditional model.
