URUGUAY: Transport Minister Lucía Etcheverry has presented rail infrastructure investment initiatives planned for the next five-year period to parliament’s budget committee.
These planned short-term investments include:
- rehabilitation of the 3 km Lorenzo Carnelli – La Teja refinery branch in Montevideo, which has been unused since 2019 when the traffic was suspended for Ferrocarril Central works and the sleepers were stolen;
- rehabilitation of the Paso de los Toros bridge over the Rio Negro, which was separated from the Ferrocarril Central project;
- construction of rail connections to other industrial sites and docks;
- heavy maintenance of the Paso de los Toros – Rivera line;
- heavy maintenance of the Peñarol – José Pedro Varela section of the Río Branco line;
- repair and/or automating of level crossing equipment on the Paso de los Toros – Rivera, Peñarol – Treinta y Tres and Toledo – Minas lines;
- upgrading and commissioning the train control system for lines outside the Ferrocarril Central route.
Medium and long-term rail projects are to be defined by a wider railway master plan which the National Corporation for Development is to produce with the support of the Ministry of Transport & Public Works and South American development bank CAF. This will provide a strategic vision for both freight and passenger services based on the objectives of efficiency, sustainability and accessibility.
