Paraguay

This has been a long time coming, but another country off the list of those not having a post!

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The EBY joint venture that administers the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam on the Argentine-Paraguayan border has received five bids for a tender to relocate a stretch of railway in Paraguay's Itapúa department.

Paraguay has/had a number of isolated lines that connected with the River Plate.

Farrail Tours-

Since mid January 2011 the steam service in Paraguay has come to an end. Not far away, in Montevideo, they’ve overhauled a similar Beyer Peacock locomotive for charter trains. At the end of our Argentina tour I’ll make a short visit to Montevideo and check the opportunities for running a

charter train there. The problem is the available stock. All coaches they’re using have the new owner written on both sides of the coaches in big letters. You’ll here about the results in one of the next newsletters.

Paraguay's public works and communications ministry (MOPC) is considering a US$260mn project to build a trolley system in capital Asunción. (???????)

A correspondent has suggested that perhaps they still have those old Brusssels two-axle trams stored somewhere - and the rails must be under the tarmac.

SANTIAGO, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The immense Pacific Ocean cannot hinder the promising cooperation between China and Latin America, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Tuesday.

China-Latin America cooperation is just in the embryonic stage and boasts great potential, Wen said in a meeting with Chinese embassy staff and other overseas Chinese before concluding his four-nation visit to the region.

Recalling his meetings with Brazilian, Uruguayan, Argentine and Chilean leaders, Wen said all of them proposed to raise the added values in trade with China, namely to increase the proportion of finished goods in exports.

In view of this "inevitable" trend, Wen said, he suggested in a video conference with Southern Common Market (Mercosur) leaders on Monday that the two sides initiate a feasibility study on a free trade area (FTA) pact.

The idea has drawn attention from across the region and the world at large, but it would not be an easy task, the Chinese premier said.

The two sides should abide by international rules while advancing the FTA process, and China will sincerely carry out concrete action to facilitate their exports, Wen added.

The two sides, he said, need to maintain a balanced and sustainable trading pattern, which is both the principle and the goal of China.

China has also proposed to double the trade volume with Mercosur to 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2016 on the basis of the 2011 level and to double that with Chile to 60 billion dollars by 2015, he told the attendants.

Noting that all the four countries have expressed hopes for more Chinese investment in infrastructure, including oil, natural gas, railways and hydropower stations, Wen said China, while striving to boost domestic demand, encourages its enterprises to go abroad and explore new markets.

As regards China's economic development, Wen said the lingering global financial crisis has prompted people across the world to hold high expectations for China's economic growth and the Chinese market.

Following years and decades of rapid economic development, China will continue to forge ahead, keeping its own house in order and striving to build a better nation, said the premier.

Paraguay is moving forward with its plans to build a 530km rail network, EBY - the joint venture that administers the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam on the Argentine-Paraguayan border - said in a statemen.

Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, is set to host a US$200mn light rail system, state-owned railway operator Fepasa's president Marcelo Wagner told a local radio.



There is a reported BRT as well.

on October 23, 2012in South America

Completion of a planned rail corridor between the ports of Paranagua in Brazil and Antofagasta in Chile depends on the construction of a new 530km line in the east of Paraguay – from Presidente Franco in Alto Parana to Curupayty in Neembucu. The project is reportedly high on the agenda of Ferrocarriles Del Paraguay SA (Fepasa – the state railway). South Korean international cooperation agency Koica is busy with a feasibility study.

Another study is being done by Metropolitana Milanese of Italy and Argentina’s Grupo Roggio, which are looking at a proposed 44km light rail system connecting the capital Asuncion to Yparacai.

Asuncion (Paraguay), April 2 (IANS/EFE) Paraguay's old steam locomotives and workshops, relics of what was a state-of-the-art company at the end of the 19th century, are now a draw for tourists in a country that lacks rail service.

A giant steam locomotive welcomes tourists and other visitors to the Living Railroad Workshop Museum in Sapucai, a city located about 90 km southeast of Asuncion.

The museum is home to the still-operational steam locomotives that went into service in this South American country in 1894.

The workshops were used to maintain, manufacture and repair the locomotives, a symbol of past prosperity.

Paraguay, one of the first countries in South America to have railroads, does not currently have a railway network.

The country's first railroad began operating in October 1861, linking Asuncion and Trinidad, a former municipality that is now a district of the capital.

"What you see in Sapucai is something unique at the regional level. Don't think you are going to go to any country and you are going to find it, an old workshop that still has a steam system," Ferrocarriles del Paraguay S.A. chief Marcelo Wagner told EFE.

The railroad workshops in Sapucai are listed as cultural heritage sites in Paraguay and officials are working to win UNESCO recognition for the facility as a World Heritage Site.

Paraguay's last functioning steam railway line ceased operations in 1999, with the line covering the 38 km between Asuncion and Ypacarai.

The railway line is used occasionally to provide train rides for tourists.