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Train line between Bolivia and Chile, closed since 2005, reopened

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rail line operators are re-establishing a train system to carry Bolivian exports to Chile’s Pacific ports for the first time in 16 years, holding out hope of an increase in regional trade.

A test train was dispatched from the port of Arica on May 5, signaling the reactivation of the Chilean section of the Arica – La Paz railway for freight traffic after being mothballed for almost 16 years.

Completed in 1913, the railway was severed by flood damage in 2001, but restored the following year. Through services were suspended after operator FCALP went bankrupt in November 2005, although more recently EFE has run a limited passenger service on the 70 km coastal section from Arica to Paconchile and Central in the Lluta valley.

 

Sixteen cars filled with 410 tonnes of iron coils were hauled by what will be called the Ferrocarril Arica-La Paz train line. Tensions have simmered for decades between the two countries as Bolivia laments its lack of access to the Pacific.

This preliminary test covered 616 total kilometers – 205 in Chile and 411 in Bolivia. The return trip is planned in a few days with a shipment of 400 tons of soybeans from the Bolivian town of Santa Cruz, destined for Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

EPA President Marcelo Urrutia explained that the concessionaire had ‘gone in search of new cargo’ to support the development of the port. TPA identified an opportunity to carry soya beans for a Bolivian exporter, and the two organizations then approached

 

 

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