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It could be possible to link America by rail?

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by M636C Pedro, Here in Australia we have just built a new railway connecting our North coast with the South. It may not be justified commercially, but it will contribute to development in remote areas. Already, two new mines are being discussed because the existence of the railway makes them possible. Passengers are very happy to travel the new line. There is only one train to Darwin at the North end per week, but the trains run with FORTY cars (four dining cars, four lounge cars and four double deck automobile carriers) each week. The train can't be run more than once a week because it turns around and runs to Alice Springs (in the centre of Australia) for the other days. The passenger operator, Great Southern, will need to buy more cars to run more trains. I've been to Argentina, and it is quite like Australia (although they have less desert than we do). I think that linking South America by rail could work effectively, as long as a common gauge could be decided. Metre gauge is fairly common, certainly in Argentina and Brazil, and could be used in Chili as it is in Bolivia and Peru. But it would have to be a Government project, and getting agreement might not be easy (even if the Argentinians agreed to speak Portuguese at the meetings). Peter [/quote] Peter, Brazil and Australia have a lot of things in common. Speaking on railroads, both of them have good iron ore companies. BHP and CVRD are the world biggest mining companies. CVRD have two mais railroads here: EFVM and EFC. The first is metric gauge and has 700 km long. The second is broad gauge (1,600mm) and run 900 km. EFVM run 34 cars on its passenger train 10 years ago. Nowadays, it run only 17 cars. EFC also run only 14 or 17 cars. My brother lived in Australia for 17 years and he said me that the trains there are similar to those here. The question of a new line for passenger train in Australia shows us that the governments have to do politics not only for economics reasons, but for social reasons too. After all, that´s why people live in society: to get better way to life. And better way to life not necessary means to be profitable to the country. Somebody have to pay for that part of population who needs a dependable transportation. When I visit Amapá rr in 1999 (at Amazon land) I perceived that a lot of small villages have the train as its only way to link with civilization, specially the indians. There are no other way to get some places there. In spite of the line was open for manganese exploration in the 50´s it is doing a good social job there, giving those communities the change of a better life. If somebody here wants to see some photos of Amapá rr, send me a email. Pedro
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