Argentina approves railway project connecting Vaca Muerta hydrocarbon field

Argentina’s Ministry of Transportation has approved the Vaca Muerta train project, including rehabilitating existing sections of the Roca railroad and building a new branch line between Contraalmirante Cordero and Añelo.

Also, shunting sets, crossing detours, and interruptions at construction sites and level crossings will be executed. The work would be accomplished with a loan from China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), reports enelSubte.

The initiative was made official with the publication in the Official Gazette of Resolution 408/2022, which approves the project and determines the agreement models the Ministry and Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura (“Argentine Trains Infrastructure” – ADIF) must sign with the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén.

INITIATIVE DETAILS

The project comprises the renovation and improvement of the Bahía Blanca – Neuquén – Zapala branch line in the section from Ingeniero White to Contraalmirante Cordero and the construction of a new 77 km long branch line from kilometer 1,200 (Contraalmirante Cordero) to Añelo.

It also includes the construction of a new access road to Puerto Galván from Empalme Aguará, the construction of new maneuvering areas at the terminals, crossing detours, the explosion on bridges, culverts, and drains, new signaling and communications, renovation of level crossings with automatic barriers, and execution of closures.

The Ministry said in a press release that in December 2020, an agreement was signed with CMEC, by which the company will provide the necessary financing for the execution of the project, which is estimated to be close to US$800 million.

It is estimated that the project, which will provide the Vaca Muerta field with a railway connection, an infrastructure that it lacks until now, will allow “reducing the transportation costs of the necessary inputs for the exploitation of hydrocarbons, whose demand is increasing,” contributing “to achieve the energy sustainability of the country, reducing the costs associated to the exploitation of the field”.

At the same time, it is highlighted that the rehabilitation of the railway line would also generate opportunities “for other regional economic activities that will be able to take advantage of the railroad,” such as the fruit production of the Alto Valle del Río Negro, and that it would generate vast “positive externalities” due to “the modal change that the project would bring about”.

The initiative could be linked in the future with the unfinished Trasandino del Sur project, which would allow access to Chilean ports on the Pacific Ocean.

With information from MundoMarítimo