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Monday, July 8, 2013


Spain wants to build a railroad to carry freight and passengers between Panama City and the Mexican capital, said Spanish infrastructure minister, Rafael Catalá, at a meeting last week in Panama.

Various Spanish companies are looking for overseas projects, at a time when the local economy continues to slump, he said.

A Central American railroad would involve trains running at nearly 150 kilometers per hour.

At this speed, passengers could travel between any two capital cities in Central America, in less than five hours.

The same line would also carry freight.

The project is similar to the Pueblo-Panama concept, which ten years ago proposed a corridor for rail, high-speed telecom and electricity from Mexico to the Colombian border.

The plan never materialized.

But maybe things are different now.

The Spaniards may be serious.

For his part, President Enrique Peña Nieto has promised to spend $7 billion on modernizing Mexico’s railroads.

Two leading international railroad builders are active in Mexico: Canada’s Alstom of France, and Canada’s Bombardier, which has 2,000 Mexican employees.

Our ambitions stretch to Central America, say company executives.