Argentina - Paraguay rail link restored

[John Ashworth]

Argentina - Paraguay rail link restored

Railway Gazette 11 June 2012

INTERNATIONAL: The completion of 29 km of new alignment enabling trains to once again run between the 1 435 mm gauge networks of Argentina and Paraguay was announced on June 7, providing access to a freight terminal in the Paraguayan city of Encarnación.

Since April 1990 the two networks had been linked by the San Roque González de Santa Cruz bridge across the River Paraná, replacing a train ferry, but the rise in water levels caused by the construction of a major hydro-electric dam at Yacyretá submerged part of the route.

The new alignment has been built by the agency formed by the governments of Argentina and Paraguay to manage the Yacyretá project, and has involved the construction of new bridges over the Zaimán, Negro and Tranquera watercourses.