Officials in a South American country have pledged to create a new massive train line to link its coast to the highlands.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) in Peru, home to some 34 million people, has unveiled a series of infrastructure projects that will affect the whole country.
Among them is a 347-mile train route set to connect the city of Ica, in the southern part of the country, to the Apurimac province.
This Puerto San Juan de Marcona-Andahuaylas railway will cross 11 cities and stop at 14 stations, according to details recently released by the MTC.
This project will benefit more than four million people living between the Peruvian coast and southern highlands.
Moreover, it will boost freight transport, by allowing for more than 50 million mining products from various areas of the country to be moved via rail services.
Raúl Pérez Reyes, Minister of Transport and Communications, hailed this week the new train route as well as the other infrastructure plans by saying: “This package of mega-works should not only be seen from the perspective of improving infrastructure, but also from the perspective of improving services. We are working to provide quality services.”
Testament to the MTC’s string of plans to boost the country’s infrastructure, Peruvian officials announced a few weeks ago the creation of a commuter train line linking Ica to Lima.
This 192-mile project, serving both passenger and freight transport, had first been unveiled in 2019 – when it was estimated it would cost more than £2.36billion.
The coronavirus pandemic slowed down the progress of this plan, but the Peruvian government reaffirmed its commitment to the project in 2022, and announced in February that construction works would start in 2026.
The transport minister said at the time: “It is a project whose dossier should be completed in about a year and a half. Construction should begin in the first half of 2026 and finish in 2031 or 2032.”
Much like the Puerto San Juan de Marcona-Andahuaylas railway, the Lima-Ica project will see trains on this line stop at 14 stations, to be connected with Line 1 of the Lima Metro in Villa El Salvador.
