CAF reaffirms its support for the development of rail transportation in Latin America.

With the support of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, and the Latin American Association of Railways (ALAF, for its acronym in Spanish), the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works of Uruguay (MTOP, for its acronym in Spanish) organized the I Latin American Congress of Railway Security and Integration. 

During the meeting, Antonio Juan Sosa, CAF's Vice-President of Infrastructure, pointed out that railways played, and continue to play an important role in the transportation of cargo in the region, especially in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, where important investments are being made in this sector. 

Sosa highlighted the relevance that a greater use of trains in their multi-modal transportation system would have for Uruguay. "The growth of railways, in harmony and complementary to other means of transportation, would substantially enhance the country's logistic capacity." He finished by stating that CAF is willing to contribute to Uruguay's development in this sector by providing financing and technical support. 

At the same time, Enrique Pintado, Minister of Transportation and Public Works, stated that, "after decades of lack of investments in the railway sector, during the last nine years resources started to be channeled toward the sector in three fundamental pillars: to rehabilitate the railway infrastructure, to incorporate rolling stock, and to regulate activities". 

Pintado also pointed out the need to "change the design of the infrastructure's matrix," that would allow moving from a national logic, to a regional integration logic. "It is essential to coordinate efforts in order to be competitive in the world", he stated. 

In this respect, the Minister stated that generating a convergence of highway and railway networks at the deep-water ports that Uruguay projects to build in the department of Rocha, could contribute to grant access to the sea both to Bolivia and Paraguay. 

Magali Mauad, National Director of Railway Transportation, emphasized the importance of the regulation of train operations. "We want to start off with a solid regulatory base so that from that point, we can continue with the rehabilitation of the infrastructure", she stated. 

Jorge Kohon, CAF's Specialist Consultant also participated in the meeting and presented the study Situacion y Perspectivas de la Actiidad Ferroviaria en America Laatina (Status and Prospects of the Railway Activity in Latin America). The study shows a full perspective of the railway business, starting in the 90's when private companies took charge of the management and operations of cargo railway activity. At the end of 2012, Latin America and the Caribbean had 38 cargo railway operators, of which 32 were privately managed, and 6 were publicly managed. Private management operators move 99 percent of the tons, and Brazil and Mexico concentrate over 80 percent of the region's traffic. 

During his presentation, Kohon established that the main problem of small and medium-sized railways in Latin America is the low traffic density; that is, the low amount of tons circulating, on average, per kilometer of railway. The expert stated that "In many cases, there is only one loaded train per day; therefore, our great challenge is to load the networks with more traffic. If this is not achieved, there is no way to finance any type of rehabilitation of the structure". 

Jose Villafañe, General Secretary of ALAF, stated that, "South America is in the middle of a recovery process of its railway system". He also highlighted the importance of overcoming the dichotomy between railway and highway transportation. "There is only mean of transportation: multi-modal transportation", he emphasized. 

The conference included dissertations which compared the regulatory norms of crossways between roads and railways in Argentina and Uruguay, and analyzed the security and quality systems in railway infrastructure. 

The meeting included the participation of specialists from Argentina and Spain. Uruguay was represented by Pablo Genta, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works; Carmen Melo, President of the State Railway Administration (AFE, for its acronym in Spanish); and Beatriz Tabacco, President of the National Institute of Logistics (INALOG, for its acronym in Spanish).