Latin America has begun its railway rebirth and there is someone very interested: China

The appearance of the railroad and the Expansion of your infrastructure It marked a point and apart. It was the beginning of a new era of mobility for people and, above all, for goods. However, it did not develop at the same speed worldwide. The US prioritized goods against travelers, while Europe, Japan either China They focused on the population movement. In Latin America, history is somewhat more complicated, but they want to catch up with dozens of projects and billions under their arm.

It is already considered as the railway reborn in Latin America, and China has a lot to say.

Difficulties. Talking about Latin America as a single entity is wrong, but there are elements that many of their countries share, and one is the topography. They are territories that have great natural obstacles such as mountains and jungles that would have to be overcome. They also have a geographical dispersion Great, raising costs when connecting farther and more isolated regions. It is a very different situation from that of the great European or American plains.

Priorities. There are not just problems Logistics: The priorities when developing the first networks were not the current ones. Instead of thinking about ways of bringing people from one place to another with ease or creating large merchandise nuclei that nourish with a large railway network, many of the lines were born with a very concrete objective: connect agricultural or mining farms with export ports.

The priority was to move the material outside the country, so a comprehensive network was not designed (in many cases) that moved goods and passengers between large cities or countries, leaving unconnected systems that are not very useful for internal transport. Obviously, the privatizationpolitical conflicts and state weakness fragmented all plans, causing a long -term lack of vision, in some cases, which prevented optimal development of networks.

Change of course. For example, Argentina, Mexico or Brazil lived the railway boom at the beginning of the 20th century, but once that period spent, many systems came into decline and succumbed to disconnection. However, things are changing. One of the greatest examples is Mayan trainthe great tourist project of Mexico that, using old tours, sought to create a tour of some of the country’s largest archaeological treasures to put them in value and Promote tourism Without heating your head with trips.

It is not the only project. Recently, the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum said he plans to launch some 3,000 kilometers of paths for passenger transportconnecting the main cities of the interior of Mexico with Texas and Arizona.

In other countries such as Argentina -16 billion dollars in modernization of roads with financing of CAF and Chinese companies-, Chile and Peru -with the corridor of the Peruvian coastal network and Metro and Tram- or Colombia projects, steps are also being taken for that modernization, but if Mexico handles one of the largest projects, that of Brazil is not far behind.

Colossal. It is estimated that the Latin American giant has 50 planned projects for those who will need 81,600 million dollars and, in addition to Metro projects, highlights the expansion of its passenger network and something that compared to the Panama Canalbut of the trains. The first, the country wants to expand its transport network of 2,007 kilometers up to 4,500 kilometers by 2054.

Bioceanic Ferrovia. On the other hand, we have a project that has become One of the most ambitious of South America. The Bioceanic Ferroviaor bioceanic rail corridor, It will be a line which will unite Pacific and Atlantic connecting the port of Santos in Brazil with that of Bayóvar in Peru. It will cross key territories from Brazil, Bolivia and Chile with a total of 3,700 kilometers of roads and with possible ramifications to Paraguay and Argentina.

The objective is to transport more than 10 million tons of goods per year (with the focus on agricultural product and strategic goods such as minerals). It is that “Panama Canal by train ”that will help reinforce trade between these countries, but also allow China to move rapid merchandise to and from Brazil.

In fact, China plays a role central both in financing and in the conception of megaproject, since it is a form of position themselves strategically in the region.

Challenges and pocket. In total, it is estimated that Latin America has 155 rail projects on the table, with an estimated investment of 384,000 million dollars until 2050. As we read in BnamericasIn addition, this need for money is distributed quite equitably among the different countries:

• Brazil would need 81,600 million dollars.
• Colombia 74.2 billion dollars.
• Peru about 63.9 billion dollars.
• Mexico another 63,200 million dollars.

These are the estimates of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, but also of money, land and climatic conditions will be a challenge. In recent months, in one of the segments they had to paralyze The works due to rainfall that exceeded 1,000 milliliters, but in addition, very mountainous areas that will make construction will have to go through, although some sections are estimated They will start to work in 2028.

Likewise, taking into account that it is an unprecedented work, colossal interstate coordination is also required that can be affected if there are changes of government and a last minute revenue.

Images | Terra Chillán, The Guille!

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