5 replies to this topic

[Sloan]

Stunning Argentine president

http://en.wikipedia....dez_de_Kirchner

opts for high speed rail and commuter rail upgrades.

http://www.railwayag....shtml#Feature1

http://www.railjourn....shtml#Feature6

[KevinKorell]

Don't we consider Acela Express to be HSR, or is that too much a stretch of the imagination?

[steve4031]

Unbelievable. The politicians here are do not have a clue. How long did it take for the Argetine government to get this through?

[Sloan]

Don't we consider Acela Express to be HSR, or is that too much a stretch of the imagination?

You're right, Kevin. Perhaps I shoulda used the qualifier "TGV-style" HSR.

Sloan

[KevinKorell]

Press release from Alstom:

Argentina chooses Alstom-led consortium to build the first very high speed line in Latin America

16 January 2008

The President of the Argentine Republic, Cristina Fernàndez Kirchner, officially announced on 16 January, 2008, that Alstom and its partners IECSA, Emepa, Isolux Corsan have been awarded the first very high speed link project in Latin America, between Buenos Aires, Rosario and Cordoba. This adjudication is a decisive step in the project, before the finalisation and signature of the contract which is scheduled in the next few months.

The line will link Buenos Aires and Cordoba, 710 km apart, in three hours instead of the 14 hours the journey takes today. It will be served by eight double deck very high speed trains, each with a capacity of 500 passengers, operating nine return trips every day at speeds of up to 320 kph.

This turnkey project will involve the construction of the infrastructure, including 7 stations and 780 kilometres of tracks, electrification, signalling (ERTMS level 2), the supply of rolling stock and maintenance. Alstom, the consortium leader, will undertake the overall management and engineering of the project, the supply of rolling stock, signalling, communication systems, electrification and maintenance. The trains will be manufactured at Alstom’s French plants and assembled at the Alstom site at La Plata, in the province of Buenos Aires. IECSA will be in charge of civil works with Isolux Corsan and EMEPA will participate in the construction of the tracks with Alstom.

“The Buenos Aires-Rosario-Cordoba line constitutes the largest very high speed rail project since the KTX project in Korea. It represents an essential component in the economic development of Argentina, underlines Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport.

This order confirms Alstom’s leadership in very high speed. Since the launch of the first TGVTM in 1981, Alstom has gained unrivalled experience: 70% of the trains in service in the world which travel at more than 300 kph have been built by Alstom. They have covered over 2.8 billion kilometres (6,500 times the distance between the earth and the moon), carried 1.6 billion passengers and achieved two world rail speed records - 515.3 kph in 1990 and 574.8 kph in 2007.

[Sloan]

Cristina signs the deal! She is smart and good looking too!

http://www.railwayag...ml#Feature4-5-1

http://en.wikipedia....dez_de_Kirchner

Sloan