Govt looks to buy trains from Portugal

The Argentine government is looking to buy a package of used trains and passenger cars from Portugal, local newspaper Clarín reported. The deal could be completed within two weeks and include 24 electric trains, six motor cars, 39 diesel engines, and 60 long distance passenger cars, according to the report. The speed of the deal with Portugal has two motives. First, authorities want to reinforce the services of the San Martín line in Buenos Aires before launching a new bidding process to re-privatize the line. And second, officials want to use the passenger cars to rehabilitate services in the interior of the country before elections in October, the paper said. Last week Argentina wrapped up a 1.1bn-peso (US$381mn) deal with Spain to buy a package of 96 trains and 536 engines and passenger cars over the next five years. Like the deal with Spain, the agreement with Portugal will be state-to-state.