MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina and Chile working on the Trans-Andean Railway

The governments of Argentina and Chile received this week the economic offers from the parties interested in building the Trans-Andean Railway, a project that will require an investment of 3 billion US dollars.

Although CASA (Corporación América) acquired the rights to undertake the project in July this year, other leading companies will also have a stake in the project, among them Tecnicagua, Petrolera del Sur (Chile), Camargo Correa (Brazil), Cometrans (TBA) and Cartellone. The project, comparable to the two tunnels currently being built through the Swiss Alps, involves the construction of extensive tunnels and protected tracks and is expected to take seven years to build. Once operational it will enable some 30 million tons of freight to be moved between both countries in a first stage. The project is part of a much larger undertaking: a bi-oceanic corridor that will eventually link Buenos Aires and Valparaiso and will be strategic for Argentina's foreign trade. Most of the track on the old railway line will be renovated and the whole line electrified. Besides, some 60 kilometers of new tunnels will have to be driven through the Andes. The pass has long been the main route for trade between Argentina and Chile as well as a gateway for Argentina's exports to the Pacific. However, the pass has also become a bottleneck in the winter with frequent snowstorms closing the pass for days on end. Currently an estimated 850 trucks cross the border daily transporting 4.3 million tons annually. Argentina and Chile have other common railway projects such as those linking Rio Turbio with Puerto Natales in the extreme south of Patagonia. Another option is connecting Zapala with Las Lajas in Chile. CASA belongs to Eduardo Eurnekian a powerful Argentine businessman of Armenian origin who owns Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, the company that has a concession on all of Argentina's main airports plus Carrasco air terminal in Montevideo and Punta del Este, Uruguay, among other businesses. He usually charters medium sized jets to the Kirchner family and also financed the Argentine cemetery in Darwin, Falkland Islands.