12-11-20 China Railway Construction Corporation and the Ministry of Transport of Argentina on Fri signed a contract worth $2.6 billion to improve the General San Martin Cargo Railway, the largest railway project signed by a Chinese company in Latin America.
The line is one of the South American country’s three main cargo railways, connecting western productive provinces with the eastern agricultural export region.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez presided over the signing of the 2.6 billion-U.S. dollar contract, the biggest contract in a series of railway agreements signed Friday with Chinese companies.
Under the contract, the CRCC will provide the engineering, technology and equipment.
The agreement seeks to rehabilitate the railway corridors of the San Martin line, improve its infrastructure to boost cargo capacity from 3 million to 9 million tons, and increase train operational speed from 40 to 90 km per hour, according to the president’s office.
The project will renovate 1,813 km of the railway line, benefiting the provinces of Buenos Aires (center-east), Santa Fe (center), San Luis (west), Cordoba (center) and Mendoza (west), and eventually directly generate some 16,830 jobs.
