Honduras presents US$20bn interoceanic rail corridor to US officials

The Honduran government has presented US officials with a project that would cost up to US$20bn to build an interoceanic rail corridor across the Central American nation, in the hopes of attracting interest in investing.

This week a Honduran delegation met with Jose W. Fernandez, the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment of the US State Department, according to Fernandez’s social media accounts.

The project “promises to be an engine for growth for Honduras and the region. The United States greatly values our partnership with Honduras and we look forward to new ways to improving our bilateral ties,” he said on X. 

The Honduran group was led by foreign minister Enrique Reina, presidential secretary and son of President Xiomara Castro Héctor Zelaya and the Honduran ambassador to the US, Javier Bu Soto. 

Zelaya chairs the commission to build the project, which was declared of national interest by Castro despite accusations of lack of transparency and nepotism, as he was granted the power to award no-bid contracts. 

During the first week of April, infrastructure and transport minister Octavio Pineda said that the current government will only have time to conduct prefeasibility studies before leaving office on January 27, 2026.

Other nations reported to be interested in the project include China, Japan, South Korea and Spain. 

The corridor could be built in two stages and would take up to 20 years to be completed. The first stage would take 2-5 years and involve refurbishment of rail lines between Cortes port on the Caribbean coast and the San Pedro Sula area, as well as improvements to the CA-5 highway to prepare for increased cargo traffic from a dry port in La Barca to another in Goascorán. 

Another 80km of rails would be built to transport cargo from Goascorán to a new port planned for Amapala on the Pacific coast.

The second stage would entail a new rail link between Castilla port in Trujillo municipality on the Caribbean coast and Amapala port. Completion of this stage would take an estimated 10-15 years.