Chile pledges rapid review of US$2.4bn rail project

The head of Chile's concessions office, Hugo Vera, said the proposed US$2.4bn high speed rail link between capital Santiago and port city Valparaíso will be reviewed "with the speed it requires" by his office.

The project, submitted as a private initiative by Chilean-Chinese consortium TVS, will be reviewed for up to two weeks by Vera's office. After that, it will be up to the country's concessions council to decide whether to declare it to be of public interest, which would kick off the study stage.

The rail connection between Santiago and Valparaíso, which would also benefit the nearby port of San Antonio, has been set as a top priority by the government, Vera was reported as saying by newspaper Diario Financiero.