INFRASTRUCTURE: Full steam ahead for Venezuela's rail network
One of the great symbols of President Chávez 's Bolivarian Revolution is the train. On adverts repeated incessantly on public TV stations a computerised image of a high speed train cuts across the screen, linking the live action shots of the government's social missions in action. Although the country has a number of lines, many have fallen into disrepair. Now, however, the railway network is inscribed in the 1999 constitution as a "national priority". Over 4,000km of track is to be built over the next 20 years, covering the whole of the country and linking with railway systems in Colombia and Brazil.
The network will be divided up into five areas: central, central-west, east, west and south. On 15 October the government hopes to cut the ribbon on the central section, the Ezequiel Zamora Railway, named after a 19th century federalist general (in whose army Chávez 's grandfather fought), which will link Caracas to Cúa, a suburb 42 km south of the metropolis. The route, which cost US$2.5bn, will have 24 tunnels and 27 viaducts and will terminate at La Rinconada, with an interchange to Line 3 of the Caracas metro. The railway is being built by a consortium of Italian companies: Astaldi, Impreglio and Ghella. For commuters, the journey will cost Bs$2,600, or just over a dollar, the same price as the bus into the city. Initially, the train will only run at peak times.
The same consortium is also due to begin work on a US$2.2bn contract to build the centre-south section of the network. The project includes the construction of 13 stations, three freight terminals and a rolling stock maintenance department. Contract options worth up to US$1bn cover signalling and control equipment, telecommunications, electrification and rolling stock.
While the focus of the central sector of the railway network is commuter transport, the purpose of large sections of the track is to move cargo around more easily. The western section, for example, will carry principally mineral, industrial, and agricultural cargo. Puerto Cabello, in the centre-west section, is a deepwater port where many of the country's mined exports, such as coal and phosphates, will be transported to be shipped abroad.
