South American transcontinental railroad

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Tren Bioceánico or Corredor Ferroviario Bioceánico Central , so Central Interoceanic Railway Corridor , South American Transcontinental Railway for short, is a superlative transnational transport infrastructure project in Brazil , Bolivia and Peru . A 3755 kilometer long railway line from the Atlantic to the Pacific is to connect the Brazilian port city of Santos through the tropical lowlands of Bolivia and over the 4000 meter high Andes with Ilo in Peru. The construction is being driven by the Bolivian President Evo Morales . Construction work had not yet started in summer 2020; construction was originally supposed to start in 2019.

Political and economic motivation

Since the east-west trade in South America is currently mostly via Chilean ports, Peru hopes that the railways will provide economic impetus and better export conditions to Europe . Brazil would like to be closer to the booming Asian markets such as China , India and Japan . Bolivia, on the other hand, has long complained about the isolation from the international flow of goods caused by its inland location . Bolivia will therefore carry most of the investments in order to connect to Brazil and the important Atlantic port of Santos . It would also connect the railway network on the Bolivian Altiplano with the line in the Bolivian lowlands for the first time . The importance of the transcontinental railroad is compared with the Panama Canal by the states concerned .

The project should pay off economically, because the approximately four-day journey over the route saved 16 days of travel around Cape Horn or 25 days of travel through the Panama Canal. The route should also be interesting for the exchange of goods between China and Europe .

Technical parameters

The line will be built in meter gauge and be 3755 km long. The apex of the route in the Andes is said to be over 4000 m. At the western end of the route, a height difference of 3000 m must be overcome on a straight line of 50 km. It has not yet been decided whether this will be done by building a 150 km long route or whether a section with an 80 ‰ gradient will be inserted, which will be operated as a rack railway. In addition, the maximum gradient should be limited to 25 ‰ and the minimum curve radius should not be less than 300 m. The maximum speed should be 160 km / h in passenger traffic and 100 km / h in freight traffic. The permissible axle load was set at 25 tons .

Projected course

The route of the route was hotly debated; most of the actors refrained from a route bypassing Bolivia in the north due to political pressure from Bolivia and the ecological effects of the construction in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon region . The length of the route and thus both construction and operating costs are more favorable when Bolivia is included than with the originally planned route.

The route is to begin in Ilo , Peru and lead past La Paz on the Altiplano , from there in the direction of the eastern slope of the Andes through Cochabamba and through the lowlands in eastern Bolivia to Santa Cruz and the Brazilian border at Puerto Suárez . From there it should lead via Campo Grande to the Atlantic Ocean to the port city of Santos .

Both freight and passenger traffic will be offered on the route .

History of the project

As early as 2008, there were first considerations in Peru to build a railway line to Brazil. During his visit to China at the end of 2013, Bolivian President Evo Morales and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed the possibility of building a railway line between the Atlantic and the Pacific, from Peru via Bolivia to Brazil. In view of a possible partial financing by China, a feasibility study was requested from China. These feasibility studies were started in 2014 by European and Bolivian companies. This included both engineering studies on the construction of the route, as well as market studies that should determine possible passenger and goods flows, strategic reports and the like. a. for financing as well as ecological reports on the impact of the project on the environment.

In 2015 the construction was decided in principle in a contract between Brazil and China. The German government also supports the project and highlights the qualifications of German and Swiss companies that not only want to take over the construction of the line, but also deliver the trains and bring with them a system for training skilled workers . A German-Swiss interest group was formed, which endeavors to get orders from the project to the railway industry in these countries.

As of September 2016, it was estimated that the construction of the railway line would cost around 60 billion US dollars , while Bolivian sources estimate that in 2017 it was only “more than 13 billion euros”. Morales envisions the “dream” that the line will be completed by 2025 Template: future / in 5 years- the 200th anniversary of Bolivia's independence.

Germany and Switzerland signed a letter of intent with Bolivia in March 2017. Today, more than 30 companies specializing in rail transport form the German-Swiss collective that wants to participate in the realization of the “Panama Canal of the 21st Century”. These include companies such as Alpiq , Leica Geosystems , Siemens Switzerland , Walo , Stadler Rail and Molinari Rail AG .

At a meeting on June 20, 2018, the governments of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru agreed on the regulation of the planned transcontinental route. With Paraguay's participation and approval, the sections of the route between the cities of Roboré in Bolivia and Carmelo Peralta in Paraguay can now be built. In addition to the participating countries, a delegation from Uruguay, representatives of the embassies of Germany and Switzerland as well as the European Union, the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) took part.

The earliest possible start of construction is 2020. A construction period of seven years is expected.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La Nación: Está decidido: El tren bioceánico Brasil-Perú incluirá a Bolivia (Spanish)
  2. ↑ From ocean to ocean - and back baz.ch of December 13, 2017
  3. ↑ https://www.gtai.de/gtai-de/trade/wirtschaftsumfeld/wirtschaftsausblick/bolivien/wirtschaftsausblick-bolivien-juni-2019--104034
  4. ↑ Peter Kleinort: Germany should build a transocean railway. Joint consortium with Switzerland could win a contract for connection in South America . In: Daily port report of March 22, 2017, p. 4
  5. ↑ Prensa latina: Tren bioceánico, proyecto muy importante para Bolivia y Suramérica (Spanish)
  6. ↑ Barta: 45th Conference , p. 305.
  7. ↑ Barta: 45th Conference , p. 305.
  8. ↑ Los Tiempos: Tren bioceánico (Spanish)
  9. ↑ a b NN: Panama Canal on rails for South America . In: DB Welt 10 (2017), p. 11.
  10. ↑ eju.tv: Por estrategia tren bioceánico debe pasar por Oruro (Spanish)
  11. ↑ La Razón: China pide estudio de construcción de tren interoceánico (Spanish)
  12. ↑ El día: Se iniciaron estudios para un corredor ferroviario bioceánico ( Spanish )
  13. ↑ Corredor ferroviario que uniría a Brasil, Perú y Bolivia tendría un costo de US $ 10,000M americaeconomia.com, accessed on December 13, 2017 (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Tagesspiegel: 3,500 kilometers by rail from Brazil to Peru
  15. ↑ FAZ: The dream of the ocean express
  16. ↑ Peter Kleinort: Germany should build a transocean railway. Joint consortium with Switzerland could win contract for connection in South America In: Daily port report of March 22, 2017, p. 4; NN: “Panama Canal” on rails for South America . In: DB Welt 10 (2017), p. 11.
  17. ↑ La República: China calcula que tren bioceánico Perú-Brasil costaría 60 mil millones de dólares (Spanish)
  18. ↑ Evo Morales wants railway line to mark the anniversary economyregional.li, June 6, 2017, accessed May 17, 2019.
  19. ↑ Dream of the Ocean Express should come true - “The Panama Canal of the 21st Century” orf.at, June 7, 2017, accessed June 12, 2017.
  20. ↑ Alpine technology for the Andes swissinfo.ch, December 14, 2017, accessed on December 14, 2017.
  21. ↑ Agreement to build the Bi-Oceanic Railway June 23, 2018 in: amerika21
  22. ↑ Barta: 45th Conference , p. 305.