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Friends of Latin American Railroads FLB PR-OFFICE: Samuel Rachdi, Bahnhof, CH-6422 Steinen SZ; Tel. +41/41/832.01.34; Fax +41/41/832.01.35 Email: info@fahrplancenter.com
VOLTA O TREM 10th Year, Number 7 31st December 2006
FLB NEWS FLB Study Trip 2007 FLB is organising a study trip in autumn 2007 and the region visited will be southern Brasil. This visit includes railways in the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The trips starts on November 02, 2007 and takes 3 weeks. The detailed programme and the price will be fixed shortly; it can already be ordered at info@fahrplancenter.com or info@cometreisen.ch. It will be sent as soon as it is completed. In addition, the program can be consulted within a few days under www.fahrplancenter.com/FLBReiseBrasilien07.html. Since more than 6 months the state railway of Chile EFE ceased operation of the long-distance trains from Santiago to Temuco and Concepción. The reasons were damage after flooding and then construction works. In addition, travel times of other trains (Santiago - Chillán in particular) were extended and at the same time the fares increased. There are some vague promises to run again the overnight trains as from mid-December, but if the day trains in these relations will run again is still unknown. In Chile it is feared that those trains soon will be degraded to seasonal trains. Therefore a call to all of you: Write to EFE and urge them that you intend to use those trains as tourists; ask for trips in all possible seasons of the year. You may write e-mails or letters to: contacto@efe.cl (to the attention of one of the persons listed below) or by letter to: Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado EFE Señor Jaime Contreras, Gerente General, (or to Señor Guillermo Díaz Silva, Presidente del Directorio) Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins 3322 Santiago, Chile Write in English or Spanish and insist on an answer, repeat your request if necessary. (More news on EFE see below) AND A GOOD, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL YEAR 2007! ARGENTINA Tren a las Nubes An incredible bureaucracy and the fear of the railwaymen's trade union Unión Ferroviária to loose the Belgrano Cargas railway completely have had the result that Salta province up to today was unable to invest the available ARP14 million into the recovery of the Ramal C-14 from Salta to Socompa. Therefore the Tren a las Nubes will not operate as planned from January 2007 onwards. According to the latest information work on the line should start in January 2007 (in the meantime, slow running sections of 10 and 15 km/h for the weekly liquid gas train have been extended from 38 to 94 km). The Tren a las Nubes could therefore at the earliest start operation in March 2007. But an enquiry to the Secretary of Tourism of Salt Province reveals that they are not as optimistic. The cautious answer is only: "March could well be, but please book for a later date!" Trem do Cariri Quietly and secretly, one might say, the regional train "Trem do Cariri" is being built. The project envisages suburban traffic between the cities Juázeiro do Norte and Crato (with in all 320'000 inhabitants) in the south of Ceará state. More than BRR13,2 million are available for the infrastructure; with this the track of the 13 km long line will be rebuilt, but a few tasks have been carried out already in 2006, for example the reduction of level crossings. Included in the amount is the reestablishment of the tracks on the last 3 km to Crato station, as this section was only eliminated during a city development project which was not carried out; the track bed is still there. Along the line two intermediate stations will be built. The 2-section diesel hydraulic motor coaches, with air conditioning, will be be built at Barbalha and will be ready by February 2007. The manufacturer Bom Sinal Indústria e Comércio Ltda. becomes therewith for the first time a manufacturer of railway motor coaches. Originally it was planned also to connect the city of Barbalha, but as this 15 km section had been completely removed more than 20 years ago and the track bed has been partially covered by housing, this remains a dream on cost grounds. Further regional trains The association ADTrem, for the promotion of passenger traffic, foresees for 2007 good chances that various projects finally can be realised. On top of the list is the "Trem do Aeroporto" São Paulo - Guarulhos, the express train line "Trem Bandeirante" São Paulo - Campinas and the local trains Fortaleza - Sobral (Ceará) and Maringá - Londrina. In Rio Grande do Sul state the line from Bento Gonçalves to Caxias do Sul will be well be top of the list. On the 22 km section Carlos Barbos - Bento Gonçalvez steam trains are operating already, but the remaining 44 km to Caxias do Sul have been partially removed and must be therefore reconstructed completely. In Caxias do Sul there is a manufacturer of goods wagons who must produce more vehicles year by year and therefore is greatly interested in the reestablishment of this line. Therefore the financial help of the Federation will be minimal; industry, communities and Rio Grande do Sul will finance the major part. EFE becomes a source of problems The 15th of December is well past, but the state railway EFE has not yet introduced a summer timetable. The trains from Santiago to Temuco and Talcahuano do not operate again. If they will be reintroduced by January becomes ever more questionable. There is not yet a possibility of advance bookings. The possibility to book via Internet has been switched off, as too many people "wanted to reserve seats in non-existing trains" (i.e. to Temuco and Talcahuano). With every day without these trains EFE is loosing more than 1500 passengers, this in the most important travel season. Train to Soyapango The administration of the ports of El Salvador, Cepal, which at present also administrates the completely closed railway, wishes to establish a rail commuter line on the line San Salvador - Soyapango. For this, the track must be overhauled, and available diesel locomotives and coaches will be used. But now there is heavy opposition to this project. The settlers who along and on the track have built their huts want to impede that they have to clear the railway area. As in other regions of the country the government has officially ceded railway property (e.g. on a large part of the line from Texis to Santa Ana) to land less people, they also insist in the catchment area of the capital city on this right. Cepal has neither the ground nor the money to offer replacements to these people and to reactivate the line. If these problems cannot be solved it must be anticipated that El Salvador soon will have no more chance to re-establish the railways. PERU El Tren a Huancayo Ferrocarril Central Andino has on the 7th December 2006 restarted services between Lima and Huancyo.
From Lima in 2007 these departures are planned: Jan.: 26; Feb.: 23; March: 30; April: 05; 27; May:11; 25; June: 15; 28; July: 13; 20; 28; Aug.: 17; 30; Sept.: 14; 28; Oct: 06; 26; Nov.: 01; 23. From Huancayo the following day trains to Lima are planned: April: 01; 08; 30; July 01; 24; Sept.: 02; Oct.: 09; Nov.: 04; 25. From Huancayo the following night trains to Lima are planned: Jan.: 28; Feb.: 25; May:13; 27; June:17; July:15; 30; Aug.: 19; Sept.: 16; 30; Oct.: 28. URUGUAY Reopening On the 16th December 2006 the state railway AFE has resumed services on the line between 25 de Agosto and San José, 93 km away. This services is restricted to one train operating on Saturdays only, leaving at 08h30 from Montevideo and returning there at 21h. This offer is valid during the summer 2006/2007 to test whether there is a market for a regular operation. However, a daily connexion from San José to Montevideo and back in the evening would make more sense.
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