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FRIENDS OF LATINAMERICAN RAILWAYS FLB PR-OFFICE: Samuel Rachdi, Bahnhof, CH-6422 Steinen SZ; Tel. +41/41/832.01.34; Fax +41/41/832.01.35
9th Year, Number 5 20th October 2005
FLB NEWS The statutes are now ready! The way for the foundation of the cooperative is now free. This act will take place at the next meeting of Dec 3rd . The office of commercial register of the Canton of Zurich hasexamined the statutes; the respective changes have now been executed. It should be pointed out clearly that the members of the cooperative do not have personal liability in case the cooperative fails. So no one will have to pay more than the share(s) he or she purchases in order to join the cooperative. TREN PANAMERICANO Registration of interested persons has started, already 16 names are on the list, they come from Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. The first info was published in No. 38 of the FCN magazine. At the end of 2005 the next edition will appear informing about the negotiations of Peter Lais with the bolivian ENFE. This info will only go to the registered persons. Everyone interested in the TREN PANAMERICANO is kindly asked to register at the Fahrplancenter or the FLB president Peter Lais. Send a fax to +41/41/832.01.34 or email info@fahrplancenter.com or peter.lais@hispeed.ch . LATIN AMERICA NEWS ARGENTINA Ferrocentral will reopen the Buenos Aires - Tucumán relation on 31st October, 2005. The previous operation ceased in 2004 after a number of legal problems which led to the withdrawal of the concession by the governor of the Tucumán province. Peter Lais will travel in the reopening train along with members of the railfan club of Rosario (ARAR). This is in fact the first reopening of a passenger train with FLB participation! BRASIL Finally, the short distance traffic by rail through the city of San José is running! Immediately after the first days of operation, the media reported that some of the 9 scheduled round-trips were only occupied at a level of 30%. The reason: the trains run absolutely on time! After a 10 year-long abstinence of the railroad, the people are not used to this fact anymore and miss the train… The offer is very popular among students. INCOFER, the state railroad adminstration, will maintain the schedule for a while and then decide whether to expand or cut the service. So, the population has time to get used to take the train. Meanwhile, the tracks to Cartago, Alajuela and Heredia are under repair. The president of INCOFER, Mr. Miguel Carabaguíaz, is a down-to-earth kind of man who has nothing in common with a public servant or a bureaucrat. He just decided without having produced long studies or awaiting official approval which could take months. "He takes the action, then says what he intends to do and everybody agrees", is being reported from sources in Costa Rica. He was already named "Champion of Costa Rica"! His goal is to reactivate all the railway lines in the country. "Railways will not be big business, nor will it bring profit; but the subsidies to the railroad will just be a fraction of what the country would lose without railways". CUBA The delivery of the 12 new diesel locomotives from China should take place, if possible, on November 19 which is the offical "Day of the Railroad" in Cuba. The locomotives are on their way by sea. Life has become almost impossible to be paid due to the enormous rise of the price of petroleum products. A family of four needs a weekly 100 Colones (= 100 US $) just to buy the food. The figure does not include costs of energy, telephone, housing etc. Many jobs pay only wages of between 40 and 60 Colones per week, and even state employees (also the few remaining FENADESAL people) earn weekly salaries of 90 to 115 Colones. It is expected that the salary negotiations that were recently started by the unions of agriculture workers (sometimes they do not even earn 40 Colones per week!) will be very hard. As the right-wing government intends to repay debts under any circumstances - it is under pressure to do so - it might not allow any salary raises. Therefore, labour conflicts are likely; the Farabundo Martí movement already took the side of the population. Let’s hope that this country does not enter into another civil war. Hurricane "Stan" did a fine job in Chiapas. At least 11 bridges of the Ixtepec - Tapachula line were destroyed, more than 20 landslides swept over the tracks, several buildings collapsed with the debris falling on the tracks, 41 cars were thrown over and destroyed - and this with only 75% of the line examined! All road connexions are interrupted as well. It is unknown how long it will take to re-establish passenger and freight traffic. In the past 12 months, international freight traffic to Guatemala just took off; the operator CFCM could attract most of the Mexican exports to the neighbouring country to the railway. This will not be possible until further notice. There is also good news: The "Tequila Express" from Ferromex will run each Saturday and Sunday from Guadalajara to Amatitlán and back. The demand for this service increased considerably in the last months so that additional Sunday services were run. Therefore, the operator decided that as from November 1st, 2005 two trains per weekend will be scheduled. PERU So please spread word about these trains so that they get filled and might be running on other days, too. There are voices in Perú which ask for weekly runnings on this line (with full agreement of FLB, of course). In the meantime, AFE is continuously improving track conditions. Many sections between Montevideo and Durazno have been repaired or work still goes on. The Durazno staion yard is renewed. New points are placed. All electric level-crossings in the Montevideo area (built in the 1970ies by Alstom) were repaired and modernised. A siding for a freight customer is rebuilt. Private firms of the country participated in all this work as the railroad itself does not yet have sufficient employees to take care of it. It is planned to reactivate the San José - Mercedes line which has not been used for a couple of years. Also some rolling stock is under repair: a second Brill railcar was overhauled after 70 years of use, and test runs with a Brill took place between Montevideo and Victor Sudriers. Then, a Ganz-Mávag locomotive (built 1977) which was severely damaged in 1999 in a collision at a grade crossing will be rebuilt. On October 19 and 20, the Uruguayan and German government will meet in Germany in order to seek help from German firms for the operation and extension of the port of Montevideo and the rehabilitation of the railroad.
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