Tuesday, December 15, 1998 (Washington, DC) NEW ORLEANS—U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today joined Bolivia’s Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Jorge Pacheco, and Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris in announcing a technical assistance partnership to provide Bolivian rail interests with U.S. state of the art rail technology for the Aiquile-Santa Cruz railway link.

Slater, Pacheco and Molitoris also signed a memorandum of intent to promote cooperation between U.S. and Bolivian transportation specialists for improving rail transportation systems and technology.

"The U.S. rail industry has a long history of successful rail-related partnerships in the western hemisphere," Secretary Slater said. "Our partnership with Bolivia adds to that history and furthers President Clinton’s commitment to provide new opportunities to increase U.S. exports and create domestic jobs."

The Aiquile-Santa Cruz railway link will connect the Eastern and Andean networks of the Bolivian National Railway System. This 235-mile (388-km) link between Aiquile in the west and Santa Cruz in the east will create a complete, 2,420-mile, (4,000-km) single-mode corridor between the Atlantic port of Santos in Brazil, and the Pacific ports of Arica and Antofagasta in Chile.

The U.S. government will provide no direct financial assistance or loans to the Bolivian government for the cost of this project, but the partnership will proactively open up significant opportunities for U.S. rail companies, Molitoris said. A preliminary cost estimate for the project is $1 billion.

The FRA will provide technical assistance in the areas of rail safety and economic planning to the Bolivian government.

"This is an exciting and innovative opportunity for the U.S. rail industry," Molitoris said. "It marks the beginning a of beneficial partnership with the government of Bolivia -- both countries will profit from this partnership."

Over the last eight years, U.S. rail entrepreneurs have been instrumental in helping commercialize, privatize and operate the western hemisphere’s railroads. The U.S. rail industry also supplies locomotives and rail freight cars for these markets.

Molitoris said that rail creates marketing opportunities in Bolivia, where only 4 percent of the roads are paved. Sixteen percent of Bolivia’s GDP is in agricultural production. Shipping through this newly-connected western port will reduce shipping costs to Asian markets by 13 percent.