MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Chinese locomotives to revive Argentina's cargo train network
A new shipment of Chinese-made locomotives arrived in the Port of Buenos Aires on Wednesday to revive Argentina's key Belgrano Cargas cargo train network. The eight locomotives will form part of a strategic rail line that traverses northern Argentina's agricultural heartland and connects producers with the eastern exporting hub of Rosario, a port located 300 km north of the capital. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesSo despite Macri's ideologically driven “return to the world” Argentina hasn't been able to entirely disengage from the BRICs and the actual reality of the world
Jan 05th, 2018 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse -1I am pretty sure that these locos have Napier Deltic diesel engines. They look identical to the locos I saw in 1984 when I visited the plant that was making two a week. The Chinese were building Deltics under licence. Its a very old but good design. They had a machine that drilled 390 holes in the engine block simultaneously and an army of female drill sharpeners who were a sight to behold rushing forward and back.
Jan 05th, 2018 - 11:52 am - Link - Report abuse +3Interesting that SA nations so often buy up superceded technology as a fast route to economic development. Its green and makes lots of sense.
BK,
Jan 05th, 2018 - 06:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Your comment makes no sense. A return to the world must, by definition, mean an engagement with the realities of that world. It was CFK who was trying to ignore realities such as 1. When you borrow money you'll have to pay it back eventually. 2. If you try to pretend that your currency is more valuable than it is then the market will adapt to its true value (remember the blue peso?). 3. If you steal money from your people they'll not like it when they realise what you've been doing to them. 4. If you make things difficult for people to trade with you they will tend not to. 5. The truth always comes out eventually. 6. Everything else.
TV,
Yes, the Deltic is a good engine with a good power to weight ratio and reliability. They also sound amazing! :-)
I can see that the old distrust for commercial relations with China has evaporated. Hey, the locomotives have now become good quality for Zaphod and TV!
Jan 06th, 2018 - 06:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0Too bad the government has “forgotten” to mention that the locomotives were purchased by the previous CFK government and already under construction when Macri took office.
EM Wait and see, let us hope that they have got the wheelbase right for travelling on your lines.
Jan 08th, 2018 - 11:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0Reekie,
Jan 08th, 2018 - 07:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“I can see that the old distrust for commercial relations with China has evaporated. Hey, the locomotives have now become good quality for Zaphod and TV!”
I have never stated that I'd have any problems with commercial relations with China. I doubt the locos are state of the art but they must be better than some of the clapped out stock I've seen of Argentina's railways.
“Too bad the government has “forgotten” to mention that the locomotives were purchased by the previous CFK government and already under construction when Macri took office.”
If that is true, why has it taken 2 years to get them delivered? If they were “already under construction” then the design and tooling work would have been done so the production time for each loco would be months. So, why the long delay? Were there problems with the original contract and/or specifications? If you'd inherited a botch job from a previous government it would take time to fix it and it would be in China's interest to keep the new government happy if they wanted future contracts.
The locos look like old technology, didnt say that was good, I had assumed they were refurbished second hand? Wonder who will get the backhander now that Kretina has vanished, fat Max?
Jan 08th, 2018 - 10:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0ZB “why has it taken 2 years to get them delivered...why the long delay?”
Jan 09th, 2018 - 12:23 am - Link - Report abuse -2Just a guess and without knowing the details but maybe because Macri was dragging his heels, trying to get out of any relations with the non-western world and the BRICs until reality imposed itself and he had to accept the benefit of the good deal Cristina had already negotiated?
TV In what way has Cristina “vanished” that “fat Max” has not??
BK,
Jan 09th, 2018 - 05:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Just a guess and without knowing the details but...” at least you are not claiming a supposition as fact. Well done.
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