Posted on 12/22/2017 6:22:11 AM PST by Olog-hai
South America’s new transcontinental railway is considered to be one the biggest infrastructure projects of the century and is also known as the “Panama Canal on railway tracks.” A 3,755-kilometer land connection is set to be built between the continent’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Bolivia is a landlocked country, so the Andean nation is especially keen on getting the ball rolling soon. Bolivian President Evo Morales met Swiss President Doris Leuthard to sign a memorandum of understanding on the construction of the transcontinental railway.
Morales met with representatives of German and Swiss railway firms, and Germany’s State Secretary of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Rainer Bomba. After the meeting, Bolivia’s president tweeted, “Our meeting with the Swiss-German consortium was very productive. (…) In January, the technical secretariat begins its work.”
The transcontinental railway will connect three South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. The line will run from the Brazilian port city of Santos on the Atlantic coast through Bolivia to the Peruvian port city of Ilo on the Pacific coast. Other South American countries including Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay are interested in a connection as well.
“The transcontinental railway is an important geostrategic project for South American countries,” says economist José Alberti from the Bolivian export association CADEX in an interview with DW. “It will improve integration and infrastructures on the continent, foster transatlantic networking and make access to Asia better.” Alberti points out that “this project will reduce time and costs. Furthermore, new services will be created with respect to international trade and they will boost the competitiveness of the countries in the region.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
Latin America is importing technical expertise and competence, something that is in short supply in that area. Not much more than that. We don’t have to worry about Swiss Troops in Brazil and I’m glad that it is the Germans and not Chinese that are doing this.
We don’t have to worry about Swiss Troops in Brazil and I’m glad that it is the Germans and not Chinese that are doing this.
**
+1
The Germans are doing it for the benefit of the Chinese.
Not to mention, we used to be quite the powerhouse in terms of railroad building ourselves and still can be. Most of the locomotives down in South America are and were products of GM and GE. Should have been us doing this project.
Way past time to reverse what Carter did with the Panama Canal proper, too.
Do they have enough in the budget for the multitude of bribes that every two-bit official will demand? Are they prepared to hire people solely because they are related to some petty bureaucrat?
The American transcontinental railroad was complete in 1869. Pity it took so long for Latin America to catch up but better late than never.
“”Should have been us doing this project.””
That’s just plain nutty. As if the politicians in DC had nothing better to do than get us involved in a boondoggle in South America. Let Germany send their “refugees” there to work on the project. That’s one way to get rid of them but I guess it’s not really Merkle’s desire to be rid of them. Heck - send her there too!
They need economic development down there, so they stay down there.
Everything south of the Rio Grande was conquered.
There is a difference.
What could go wrong?
The terrain is extremely challenging and then the politics of Brazil and Bolivia are basket cases..Peru should back out
That was not the context I was thinking of.
Not to mention that free-market considerations could keep it from becoming a boondoggle anyway.
Didn’t they try something like this back in the 1970s called the Trans-Amazon highway? I read the jungle won.
Peru would not want the benefit to their ports to be lost.
Well, the highway is open, although most of it is dirt. Some parts are just a single-lane road measuring just about six feet in width.
Weren’t there enough Germans there already, particularly ones that had experience with trains? Oh, wait...
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