Molinari to make it move
The Swiss railway technology entrepreneur Michele Molinari plays a key role in a project for a new trans-continental railway line across South America. Swiss know-how and technology are being recruited to draw a railway line across the Andes.
The steepest cog railway in the world – Swiss. The longest railway tunnel in the world – Swiss. The highest railway station in Europe – Swiss. The country’s rail infrastructure is good at superlatives.
Now the nation’s rail know-how is set to benefit a major South American project that is expected to move from the drawing board to the ground in the next few years. A railway line will be built from the Brazilian port of Santos to the Peruvian port of Ilos – a Panama Canal on tracks, as it has also proudly been called (see also page 21 of our Iberia & Latin America Special supplement in ITJ 9-10 / 2018).
Pièce de résistance in the Andes
The route covers around 5,000 km, including a branch line to and from La Paz (Bolivia). Large parts thereof have already been constructed; they have to be modernised. On the Brazilian and Bolivian plains there are already many railfreight trains in action, transporting soya, above all. The major challenge facing the Tren Bioceanico is a stretch from the Bolivian lowland metropolis of Santa Cruz via Cochabamba to La Paz, high in the Andes. Around 400 km of tracks have to be built across rugged mountain terrain that includes 3,000 m of height difference.
A consortium of German and Swiss firms has been formed to overcome the hurdles. Michele Molinari, the owner of the eponymous Winterthur-based Swiss rail technology firm, is its spokesperson. Last year he visited South America frequently for discussions and negotiations with managers.
Between these voyages Molinari found time to attend a meeting of the Propeller Club Basel, taking the opportunity to tell representatives from the local logistics industry what role his company plays in this undertaking, one of the projects of the century.
Find the right line and type of power
“The challenge is to find the right line for the tracks,” according to Molinari. It is important for the route to be as short as possible, in order to keep future maintenance costs low. At the same time the demanding topographical situation has to be heeded too, where hardly anything of this sort has been built before. “The fact that national policies support the plans is very encouraging. The various countries’ transport ministers meet twice a year to assess progress, with numerous experts’ meeting in between held on top of this,” Molinari elaborated.
Discussions focus on the type of power to be used, and on a cog railway section. Molinari believes that diesel on the plains and hydroelectric power in the hills are options. Even though the Tren Bioceanico is still a way off, Molinari is optimistic. „It’s difficult – but certainly do-able.”