As announced in "Volta o Trem" issue 9-2, the inauguration trip of the Buenos Aires - Córdoba train indeed took place; however,  commercial traffic is just to start soon. Photo R. Maggi 2005

The legal evaluations for the setting up of the cooperative are progressing well; lawyer Adrian Ramsauer of Winterthur has checked the cooperative statutes and made some adaptions. Meanhwile, Peter Lais is looking after the conditions to be fulfilled for the registration of such an organisation. All FLB members will know all the facts, so that they can properly decide about the setting up. Yet there will be a dual structure with the association FLB and the cooperative. FLB can participate as a member of the cooperative with, however, no urge for all the FLB members to become part of the cooperative. The activities of the association FLB and the cooperative will be clearly separated. Detailed information will follow as soon as Peter Lais has concluded his study.

There is motion in the FLB/AIFFLA project "Tren Panamericano". ENFE, the Bolivian railway administrator, is ready to discuss the hand-over of a Ferrostaal railbus for this tourist train. It was originally planned to use this vehicle for a local train between Cochabamba and Aiquile, but ENFE can’t gather the US$ 40’000 for the technical redevelopment (i.e. new engine). If AIFFLA wants to operate this railbus, it has to finance this as well as an additional US$ 40’000 to 50’000 for the complete renovation of the interior of the car.

Everyone interested in the TREN PANAMERICANO is kindly asked to register at the Fahrplancenter or the FLB president Peter Lais. Soon, the first edition of a newsletter will be published which will be sent free of charge to all interested persons. Send a fax to +41 41 832 01 35 or email info@fahrplancenter.com or peter.lais@hispeed.ch .
 

After a number of technical breakdowns – one of them occurred in mid-July and left a "Tren a las Nubes" stranded on an altitude of 4000 m above sea level with outside temperatures of minus 10°C! – the province of Salta withdrew the 
concession from its holders, the company "Trenes y Turismo". Insiders argue that it may take up to one year until this 
popular train will run again.

The "Tren a las Nubes" runs on the famous C-14 branch (Salta – Socompa) of the huge Belgrano network. The system connects the Northeast and the Northwest of Argentina with the ports on the Paraná river and Buenos Aires. During the Menem governement, two privatisation attempts failed, and finally the shares were handed over in 1999 to the trade union "Unión Ferroviaria" which also is the freight train operator. Huge parts of the network lay abandoned, and the railroad is working far below its potential. At the beginning of 2004, the government of President Kirchner sought for a redistribution 
of the company’s capital and called for bids, putting 79% of the shares on sale and leaving 20% in the hands of the Unión Ferroviaria. The remaining one per cent was the "golden share" with veto rights in the hands of the central government. 
Only 2 bids were received and both were disqualified for formal mistakes. Therefore, the state will take over 80% of the shares and invest a US$ 250 Mio. for 2500 km of track renovation and purchase of rolling stock (both locomotives and 
cars). The World Bank has approved a loan over this amount. We will keep an eye on how the works on this network of 
vital importance for the argentine economy progress.

The suburban line Niterói – Visconde do Itaboraí is under reconstruction since May 2005. it was interrupted in November 2004 in the town of São Gonçalo when a flooding led to the burst of some sewage pipelines of a factory which in turn 
washed out the railway track. The impact of abandonment of a railway line could be observed perfectly. In spite of police action, no less than 80 illegal houses were built on the railway tracks between February and May 2005! In another 45 
cases, squatters extended their houses so that they reach closer to the tracks than the 6,5 m allowed. Apart of it, more than 300 m of rails and about 600 ties were stolen. This caused that the operator, Central, had to wait for a loan of the Rio de Janeiro state. The loan needed to be increased month by month as not only the missing embankment, the rails and the ties must be replaced, but Central is committed to pay for the removal of the squatter houses and the relocation of the illegal settlers (why don’t road authorities have to do this in similar situations?). At the end of July 2005, Central will resume operations with 2 round-trips on weekdays.

More news about Brazil can be read in the next edition of the FAHRPLANCENTER NEWS due before end of 2005.
 

Applications to the government and President Lagos may have effect. The city of Valdivia wants to be connected again to the railway network and insisted on the reparation of the branch line Antilhue - Valdivia while the repair works on the 
Temuco - Puerto Montt line are being executed. And indeed the city was successful! As from the beginning of 2006, the branch line will be brought in condition and, with a delay of about one year, scheduled passenger trains will run to Valdivia
starting towards end-2006. Trains from Temuco to Puerto Montt will operate as from November 1st of the current year.

MERVAL has shut its operations at the beginning of July in order to execute huge construction work. The new suburban railway of Valparaiso will resume train services at the end of November with new tracks, renovated stations, a tunnel below the city of Viña del Mar and a complete fleet of new trainsets.

BIOTREN has drastically cut traffic between Talcahuano, Concepción and Hualqui as well as the number of regional trains to Laja and Renaico in order to go ahead with the works on the new suburban railway of Concepción. The Biotren main line will again be fully operated at the end of 2005 while the new branch line towards the south will be opened during 2006.

Talca-Constitución, the metre-gauge branch line is now operating with 2 weekly round-trips after the road to Constitución has been reopened. The railway did an excellent job during the interruption of the road (collapsed bridge). Over several months, up to 4 daily round-trips were running.
  
 

The tourist train from Cali to La Tebaída and Buga is indeed quite busy; trains are running almost every weekend, although they are mostly hauled by a diesel engine. The trips are very popular among the Cali people and almost always sold out. Despite the fact that only round-trip tickets are being sold whose prices are considerably higher than bus tickets, it is reported that more and more people use those trains for a single trip to or from Cali.
 

Local and regional authorities in Ecuador want to take the destiny of the railway in their own hands. Negotiations with the central government in Quito have started. It is estimated that an US$ 230 Mio investment would serve to repair the lines 
San Lorenzo - Ibarra - Otavalo, Quito - Durán and Sibambe - Cuenca. With this, local authorities want to boost tourism, but also general traffic. On the other side, they have to look for an operator, and if they do not find one, they have to get back to ENFE to do the job. ENFE is not exactly the preferred partner for this as in the past the reliability let quite a lot to desire.

The temporary withdrawal of passenger trains between Soyapango and San Salvador seems to have become a definitive one, although the trains were heavily used even when the parallel bus lines resumed operations shortly before April 30.

Yes or no? That’s the question. First, it was said that the concession for building and operating the new suburban train of Ciudad de México had been awarded. Works already started on some road over- and underpasses on the line Mexico Buenavista – Cuautitlán. But after only 6 weeks they have been interrupted, supposedly due to a formal mistake in the concession offers. The opening of the line, originally planned for the end of 2006, has already been postponed.
 

The only scheduled trip in 2005 from Lima to Huancayo and back generates very few bookings in Europe. One reason 
might be that only in May the departure was definitely confirmed. The Fahrplancenter has registered 761 inquiries – they come from groups, families, couples – generating more than 1700 passengers on 48 weekends of 2005, but not a single 
one for the end of July. This happened in spite of clear information in the internet that the train only runs once! FLB/AIFFLA will keep working towards more frequent scheduled trips and seeks the cooperation with FCCA management.

There are plans to establish a railroad museum in the town of Puerto Eten in northern Perú. It would be located in the old locomotive shed and the station of Puerto Eten. Preserved are 6 steam locomotives built between 1870 and 1904 by the north American builders Roger and Baldwin. Persons interested in the museum may contact Mr. Carlos Ortega on ortega_etentren@hotmail.com.pe .

The government and the state railway company AFE want to play an active role in passenger traffic. On top of the list is the reintroduction of passenger trains from Montevideo to Sayago, Peñarol, Manga, Toledo, Suárez, Pando and Victor 
Sudriers (Empalme Olmos, 44 km from Montevideo). For this, at least one railcar should be purchased. AFE wants to purchase more railcars to improve services on the line to 25 de Agosto and, this comes rather as a surprise, for 
reactivation of the lines Florida – Kilómetro 329, Paysandú – Salto and Nico Pérez – Río Branco, all of them on the priority list of LFU. To be able to expand services, the old main station of Montevideo must be reopened. Planning for this has already started. However, the financial situation of Uruguay is rather gloomy. Until mid-2006 the country can not ask for new loans; the indebtedness must be stopped.

In the opinion of FLB/AIFFLA, a substantial improvement of regional passenger traffic around Montevideo can be realised with an investment of about US$ 5 Mio., an amount which may be produced during 2 years with income of the state. This would include the existing trains to 25 de Agosto, new services to Florida, San José, San Ramón and Minas, renovation of existing rolling stock (Ganz-Mavag trains, railbuses, Fiat and Allen coaches) and reopening of the old Montevideo central station.