A LATIN AMERICA ON TRACK, A CONNECTED LATIN AMERICA

Many may ask: why does Europe have rail networks connecting thousands of cities and Latin America does not? The rail network faces many challenges in the continent, mainly its territorial extension.

The United Kingdom and the European Union together cover an area of 4.3 million square kilometers, which is only half the size of Brazil.

Another challenge is the competitiveness with the means of transport. Air transport, in addition to being a much faster route, has grown so much in the sector that with the arrival of new airlines and the lots of flights they offer, costs have dropped significantly.

The continent has rail infrastructure, although it has focused on freight transport, so adding passenger routes may not offer the speed offered by other means of transport for passengers. Stay tuned to read about existing and upcoming projects.

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Mexico opens new route

In Mexico we already have a passenger rail route at the present time, the Interoceanic Train of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

This was inaugurated last year with one line, and new routes are expected to begin in the short term. Little has been said about this achievement, however, it currently has a route on Mondays and Fridays, and there are three categories (tourist, executive and management).

Fares range from $27 USD tourist, $36 USD for the executive category and $92 USD for the management category.

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Chile has also joined

The South American country has the fastest train in South America. It has a capacity for 236 passengers and connects Santiago de Curico with Chillan in just two hours.

This train was manufactured in China by the company CRRC Sifang and required an investment of approximately 70 million dollars.

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Projects in the pipeline...

Learn about some of the upcoming rail projects that the countries of the American continent have already started working on and hope to open passenger routes in the short-medium term:

Mexico - The Mayan Train

Peru - The Northern Train

Chile - Santiago-Valparaiso Fast Train

The winner of the presidential elections in Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has made known her interest in following the path of connectivity in Mexico through the passenger train, stating that during her mandate she will build almost three thousand kilometers of railways for passenger transportation. At the same time, she announced that these trains will be electric and built in Mexico.

The current Mexican government claims to have left a very ambitious plan for whoever would be her successor, could continue with the project. Sheinbaum said she would give continuity to the project of 3 new tracks that will be ready by May - August 2029:

• AIFA-Pachuca Train will connect the states of Mexico and Hidalgo.
• Mexico-Queretaro-Guadalajara Train, will connect the states of Mexico City, Hidalgo, Queretaro, Guanajuato and Jalisco, extending to Nogales, Sonora.
• Mexico-San Luis Potosi-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo Train will connect the states of Mexico City, State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Queretaro, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.

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Environmentally friendly transportation

Argentina has a solar train, which is environmentally friendly. Manufactured by a Chinese company for Argentina, El Tren de la Quebrada is a solar train whose charger is powered by the solar parks located in the province.

It runs on lithium batteries, has 2 wagons and each wagon runs on 6 lithium batteries, which give the train an autonomy of up to 120 kilometers. These batteries are connected to a solar-powered charger.

Passengers will be able to use their ticket all day long, that is, they will be able to get on and off the train as many times as they wish as long as the train is in operation. It will connect the towns of Volcan, Tumbaya and Purmamarca in Argentina.

It is expected that both Mexico and the rest of the Latin American countries will continue to prioritize the budget for the passenger train, always hand in hand with environmentally friendly policies, supported by technology and knowledge of third countries.

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