Colombia awards contract to manage Pacific rail corridor

Colombia awarded a contract to manage the Pacific rail corridor to the company Infraestructura Nacional. 

The contract is for 41.5 billion pesos (US$10 million) and infrastructure agency ANI said it will have a duration of 12 months.

The contractor's work includes supervision, cleaning and clearing of the entire corridor and 13 railway stations; maintenance of stations, workshops and warehouses; and administration and maintenance of rolling stock.

The company will also carry out works and maintenance to improve 41km of rail infrastructure between Palmira and Buga.

In addition, it will be responsible for the legal defense of the rail corridor infrastructure, filing complaints for illegal occupation and/or invasion of land with the competent authorities.

“These actions, combined with progress in structuring a rail connection between Buenaventura, Colombia's main Pacific port, and the Central rail corridor, are crucial for enhancing the country's competitiveness and integration through more efficient and sustainable transportation,” said ANI president Francisco Ospina Ramírez.

In December 2022, the ANI and financial development institution FDN signed a contract for 25bn pesos for pre-feasibility studies and designs to establish the best alternative to connect the Pacific with the Central rail network.

The studies have now progressed 96%. It is expected that the ANI will hire a consultant in November-December to carry out the feasibility stage to define the technical, economic and financial aspects of the project to ready it for the tender process.

President Gustavo Petro's government is focused on reactivating the rail industry to make freight and passenger transport in Colombia more efficient.

One of the major projects to improve national rail transport sector is the Pacific rail corridor, which will extend from Buenaventura port on the southeastern coast to La Felisa in Caldas department, around 100km south of Medellín.

From there, the corridor is expected to connect with the 2,300km rail network that runs through the center of the country through Santander, Boyacá, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Caldas, Huila and Tolima departments, and then with the Atlantic rail corridor.

Colombia's rail network is nearly 3,500km long and is complemented by roads and waterways, but there are large sections of lines that are badly deteriorated due to lack of maintenance, as well as several sections that are entirely unused due to lack of investment and the national focus on improving the road network in recent decades.

The country's railway master plan addresses both freight and passenger transport. It also includes national-scale intermodality projects to enhance Colombia's competitiveness and leverage its privileged geographic location linking North and South America.