Central & South America – Page 32
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NewsVale suspends Río Colorado project
ARGENTINA: Brazilian mining company Vale announced on March 11 that it had informed the Argentinian government that it was suspending its Río Colorado project to develop potash deposits in the province of Mendoza. According to the company, 'in the current macroeconomic environment the economics of the project are not ...
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NewsEl Salvador looks to rail for logistics future
EL SALVADOR: Port and infrastructure authority CEPA has signed an agreement with Spanish consultancy Tramrail, which is to assist with the revival of the country’s 914 mm gauge rail network. As well as resuming freight operations, new passenger services are planned from the capital San Salvador to Sitio del Niño ...
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NewsColombian rail consultancy partnership agreed
COLOMBIA: Canadian rail consultancy Canarail and Bogotá-based railway engineering and consulting firm A de G Ingeniería have agreed an exclusive partnership for the Colombian market. Announcing the agreement on January 8, Canarail said the Colombian government intends to invest $21bn in developing rail infrastructure over the next 10 years, and ...
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NewsLima metro Line 2 PPP proposal
PERU: A team of consultants led by Geodata of Italy has proposed a PPP or concession model for Lima metro Line 2, a planned 27 km east-west route from Ate to Callao with 35 stations. The project has been costed at US$5·37bn, including US$2·94bn for infrastructure and US$871m for vehicles. ...
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NewsFunding approved for Quito metro
ECUADOR: The Inter-American Development Bank announced on December 5 that it had approved a US$200m loan to fund construction of Quito's first metro line, due to be completed in 2016. The mass transit system is expected to generate savings of $68m through shorter journey times, lower transport operating costs ...
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NewsCommuter co-operation in Costa Rica
COSTA RICA: President Laura Chinchilla ratified an agreement with Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor in Madrid on November 15, which will see the two countries working together to develop the rail network serving the Costa Rican capital San José. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Spanish companies would be ...
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NewsInteroperability call on Brazil's new freight corridors
BRAZIL: Common standards should be adopted to ensure interoperability across the 10 000 km of new freight railway corridors to be developed by the federal government over the next 15 years, according to national railway industry association Abifer. Speaking on November 6 at the first Metroferroviário conference, being held alongside ...
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NewsTest running on Venezuelan line to start this month
VENEZUELA: Test running is expected to start this month on the 128·8 km rail link between Puerto Cabello and La Encrucijada, according to Franklin Perez, President of the state railway authority Instituto de Ferrocarriles del Estado. Reporting progress with the government's National Railway Development Plan on September 24, Perez said ...
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NewsQuito metro studies completed
ECUADOR: Madrid Metro has completed design studies for a 22 km metro line in Quito, delivering on September 11 documentation for civil works, 13 of the route’s 15 stations, power supplies and other systems. Tendering for this work was expected to start ‘immediately’, according to Mayor of Quito Augusto Barrera. ...
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NewsQuito metro project moves forward
ECUADOR: Mayor of Quito Augusto Barrera met Metro de Madrid CEO Ignacio González Velayos on March 8 to review progress with engineering design for Line 1 of the Quito metro. The Spanish operator has been awarded three contracts worth a total of €21·5m to undertake design studies for Line ...
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NewsVenezuelan railway extension contract signed
VENEZUELA: Instituto de Ferrocarriles del Estado has signed an €763m deal for the Italian consortium building the Puerto Cabello - La Encrucijada railway to add a further section of line to connect the harbour at Puerto Cabello with the city of Morón. The consortium of Impregilo, Astaldi and Ghella ...
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NewsMetro Los Teques Line 2 contract signed
VENEZUELA: The Consorcio Linea 2 consortium of civil engineering firms Odebrecht and Vinccler has awarded the Grupo de Empresas consortium of Alstom (61%), Colas Rail (22%) and Thales Transportation Systems (17%) a €530m contract to supply railway systems and rolling stock for the second phase of Metro Los Teques. Built ...
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NewsBy rail from Buenos Aires to Montevideo
SOUTH AMERICA: President Cristina Fernández of Argentina met her Uruguayan counterpart José Mujica in Salto on August 29, having travelled from Ayuí using the rail link between the two countries across the Salto Grande dam on the River Uruguay, briefly used by passenger trains between 1982 and 1985. The ceremony ...
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NewsFEVE assists Ecuador Railways revival
ECUADOR: On July 8 Ecuador Railways General Manager Jorge Eduardo Carrera signed two contracts worth a total of US$30m with FEVE President Ángel Villalba, as the Spanish metre-gauge operator continues to participate in the revival of the Ecuadorian network under an existing co-operation agreement (RG 5.10 p30). A US$25m contract ...
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NewsSanto Domingo puts Line 2 financing in place
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: The national Congress has approved an international financing package covering the railway systems elements for the 11·5 km first phase of Santo Domingo's east-west metro Line 2. Civil works are already underway on the initial stage of Line 2, between Los Alcarrizos and J P Duarte; this will ...
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NewsPassenger trains return to Jamaica
JAMAICA: Passenger services are set to restart in the first week of July, following an inaugural train from May Pen to Linstead on April 16 which carried 200 guests including schoolchildren enjoying their first train ride. Transport & Works Minister Michael Henry cut a ribbon to mark ...
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NewsLima metro operator chooses Alstom Metropolis trains
PERU: Alstom has been awarded a €130m contract to supply 19 five-car Metropolis trainsets to operating concessionaire Tren Lima – Línea 1 for the Tren Eléctrico metro project in Lima. Proinversión, an agency promoting private investment in Peru, awarded a 30-year concession for the operation and maintenance of Line ...
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NewsSão Paulo awards monorail metro contract
BRAZIL: São Paulo metro authority CMSP has selected a consortium including Bombardier to design, supply and install an automated monorail line in the city’s eastern suburbs at a total cost of US$1·44bn. Phase I of the project is due to be opened for passenger services by 2014, ...
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NewsMachu Picchu railway rebuilding begins
PERU: Engineers from Ferrocarril Transandino have begun repairs to the 914 mm gauge railway between Cusco and Machu Picchu which was cut by landslides after exceptional rain on January 23. No trains have run on the 42 km section between Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu since then, but on February 3 ...
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NewsPresident Chávez opens three stations on Caracas metro
VENEZUELA: President Chávez opened three new stations on Caracas metro Line 3, at Los Jardines, Coche and Mercado, on January 9.The Line 3 extension between El Valle and Rinconada entered service in October 2006 to provide an interchange to the Tuy Medio suburban line at La Rinconada, and remained operational ...