They will invest 3,500 million dollars for the Valparaíso-Santiago Train in Chile

Trains are not just about getting from one place to another (…) but they are the social fabric. The trains generate history, generate links and also generate investment”.

Gabriel Boric, President of Chile

The Valparaíso-Santiago Train in Chile takes flight. This Tuesday, seven months after having delivered the first lights of the project during the 2022 public account, the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, finally released the details of the expected railway project that will link the capital of the Metropolitan Region with the V Region.

The initiative, which is part of the Trains for Chile Plan, contemplates a route via Tiltil that reaches La Calera, and then connects with Limache, Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. All of this, on a 172-kilometer route that will link the Quinta Normal commune in Santiago with the El Salto sector of Viña del Mar in just 1 hour and 30 minutes.

In this way, the Santiago-Valparaíso Train project will provide cargo and passenger transfer services through the use of existing infrastructure, such as the third freight track, as well as infrastructure for suburban services (La Calera – Limache and Quinta Normal -Batuco).

Likewise, subject to a minimum number of passengers once the project is finished (2030) and the demand for the train has been proven, a second route could be generated that would connect Tiltil directly to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso.

International tender

According to the head of the MOP, Minister Juan Carlos García, the initiative was analyzed for six months by his portfolio, in addition to the ministries of Transportation and Finance, and the State Railway Company (EFE). And the announced section corresponds to the “best alternative” because it not only responds to the need for connection between both locations, but “is financially viable and with the corresponding social relationship.”

“This is a train whose speeds we estimate can reach between 140 or 170 kilometers per hour, depending on the sections of the route,” he said.

Likewise, the head of the MOP maintained that “as a ministry we are going to build roads and make this project viable, and then EFE will operate the trains when the work is completely finished.” And he pointed out that soon the engineering studies will begin “that allow the year 2025 to make an international tender so that the train can already be used” from 2030.

The cost of the first stage (Santiago-Valparaíso) is 1.320 million dollars, while the second, which seeks to shorten the trip to about 45 minutes, would consist of a tunnel from Tiltil to Limache, as well as a tunnel from the sector from Salto to Valparaíso. This stage contemplates an investment close to 2,180 million dollars.