Ferroviaria Oriental
Coordinates: 18 ° 54 ′ 0 ″ S , 63 ° 18 ′ 0 ″ W.
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Ferroviaria Oriental SA is a railway company in Bolivia . The company operates 1,243 km of railway lines in meter gauge in the Bolivian lowlands and offers both passenger and freight transport services.
The name of the company means "Ostbahn". The term is therefore also used in Bolivia to refer to the country's eastern rail network.
Route network
The operational center of the network is Santa Cruz de la Sierra , the largest city and economic center of Bolivia. From here the 651 km long route runs via San José in the area of the Jesuit missions in the Chiquitanía and Roboré to Puerto Quijarro on the Paraguay river , which also forms the border to Brazil, and on to Corumbá in Brazil , where it connects to the Brazilian meter-gauge network of América Latina Logística exists. In the Quijarro region there are several sidings to port facilities on the Paraguay River.
The second long-distance route runs from Santa Cruz 539 km south to Yacuiba on the border with Argentina, where there is also a connection to the Argentine meter- gauge network of Ferrocarril Belgrano Cargas .
A third route leads north from Santa Cruz via Warnes to Montero, only 63 km away . Another 138 km of this route to Yapacaní have been closed.
All routes are single-track. There are also extensive sidings in and around Santa Cruz for the development of the local industry.
Various plans existed for a connection to the meter-gauge railway network of the Bolivian highlands, but it was never realized, so the Bolivian railway system consists of two subnetworks that are only connected via the neighboring country Argentina.
Traffic volume
In 2006, Ferroviaria Oriental transported around 500,000 travelers and 1.4 million t of goods.
The Santa Cruz – Quijarro route has the greatest volume of traffic. A regional train runs daily in each direction and an express train connection six times a week, alternating daily as "Expreso Oriental" (conventional wagons of different classes) and "Ferrobus" (Spanish for multiple units) with upscale equipment. The scheduled travel time for the entire route is between 13.5 hours (Ferrobus) and 19 hours (regional train), which corresponds to travel speeds of 47 km / h or 33 km / h. All passenger trains run overnight. Nonetheless, passenger transport is frequently used by both locals and tourists. One reason for this is that the parallel road connection is not paved throughout and therefore - depending on the season - only promises limited travel comfort.
Most of the freight traffic is also handled on the connection to Quijarro. Depending on requirements, up to 3 freight trains per day in each direction with a maximum gross load of 3600 t. The main goods in transit are soybeans, mineral oil products and various industrial imports from Brazil. Soy and oil are mostly handled on / from ships in Quijarro. The landlocked state of Bolivia has duty-free access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Río Paraguay .
On the route to Argentina, a mixed train with passenger and freight cars runs 3 times a week. However, this serves more to supply some smaller places on the railroad and for the exchange of goods with Argentina. For those traveling on the Santa Cruz – Yacuiba route, a bus ride on an asphalt road is much faster and more convenient. Additional freight trains are used as required.
The short connection to Montero serves as a feeder for goods traffic and is usually served daily.
Operational management
As with many American railroad companies, fixed timetables only exist for trains that carry passengers. All freight trains run as needed.
The safety of railway operations is at Ferroviaria Oriental by the developed North American operating method of the Track Warrant Control assured. Each train journey is permitted by a driving license for certain sections of the network. A dispatcher from the operations center issues the driver's license via radio and at the same time enters it into a computer system. This system monitors that no contradicting driving licenses are issued.
Vehicle fleet
Ferroviaria Oriental has 28 diesel-electric locomotives and around 750 freight cars . Most of the locomotives are of the U10B (450 kW) and U20C (1500 kW) types from General Electric . In addition, some locomotives from General Motors and Hitachi as well as railcars with sidecars from German production and 4 sets of passenger cars are used. Argentine and Brazilian wagons are also used in cross-border freight traffic.
Ownership
The eastern railway network of Bolivia was operated by the state company Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles until 1995 and then privatized. The newly founded company Ferroviaria Oriental SA was 50% owned by Bolivian pension funds, the other 50% was owned by the North American railway company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. , in whose corporate design Ferroviaria Oriental also presented itself. On September 29, 2009, Genesee & Wyoming sold its stake.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official website of Ferroviaria Oriental SA (Spanish / English / Portuguese)
- ↑ Official website of Genesee & Wyoming (English, section on FO also Spanish) ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
