MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and Argentina to reopen Tran's Andean train

Bids will be taken in late July for a 270 km railroad concession for a cargo train service connecting Los Andes, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. Seventy kilometers of the train track are in Chilean territory.

The train service will operate 24 hours per day throughout the winter months, when snowed-in mountain passes block normal car and truck traffic. The revived train service will thus assure uninterrupted trade between the two nations. The decision to get the train line back on track come more than 30 years after the bi-national train service was shut down, the result of hostilities that erupted during the "Beagle Channel War" between the two nations.

The dispute was over the ownership of a group of islands in the Beagle Channel. Both Argentina and Chile claimed the territory as their own and came close to armed conflict when tensions intensified in the late 1970s and early 80s. In 1984 a Treaty of Peace and Friendship resolved the issue, giving Chile the islands and Argentina most maritime rights.

An estimated US$300 million will have to be invested in the railroad system to cover costs related to reconstructing the tracks, bridges, stations, repair shops, transfer stations and the installation of communications systems along the route.

The train service will handle freight only, which will take 12 hours to move from one city to the other. Since the train service was shut down 30 years ago, cargo has been transported by bus or truck, but always subject to open mountain passes. An estimated US$6.4 million is lost each year to costs related to snowed-in mountain passes.

By Jen Sotolongo The Santiago Times - News about Chile