Argentina’s Ministry of Transport and CRRC agreed on the conditions for the fully rehabilitation of FFCC San Martín and to obtain a concessional loan for the renewal of the entire rail freight network linking Mendonza province with Buenos Aires and Rosario ports. The Chinese financing will be covered by Exim Bank of China.
The value of the investment is USD 2.4 billion and the share of goods and services of Chinese origin is 28% while the rest of 72% will be the Argentina’s participation.
The FFCC San Martín network connects the province of Mendoza with Buenos Aires and ensures the rail freight transport. After the modernisation of the network, including the rolling stock, the capacity of the network will increase from 2.3 million tonnes to 13 million tonnes by 2024.
The project involves the modernisation of 1626 km of tracks, 120 bridges, the installation of signalling systems across 1600 km and 400 level crossings. According to the agreement, 726 km will be tackled using new technologies that allow the tripling the amount of track laid per day. In addition, 2.8 million tonnes concrete sleepers will be produced in Argentina and 7.7 million tonnes of crushed rock ballast will be sourced from 6 quarries along San Martín network.
“This is the commitment of the President Mauricio Macri for the development of country’s rail freight transport. (…) We make efforts to recover the freight transport across the country in the next few years,” Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich said.
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