COUNTRY | Argentina
REGION | Americas
SECTOR | transport
SUB-SECTORS | energy efficiency, rail, other transport, buildings and structures, urban infrastructure
QII Principles | Principle 1 Sustainable Growth & Development, Principle 3 Environmental Considerations, Principle 5 Social Considerations
QII Sub-Principles | 2: Operation and maintenance, 3: Environmental Impact Assessment, 5: Capacity and institutional building, 5: Universal access to services
Overview
Aim of the project: The modernization of the Roca Railway has as main objective the renovation and electrification of the passenger service line Branch Constitution - La Plata, which has an extension of 52 km and moves 44 million people by year. The electrification of the Roca railway line is one of the most important projects in the country. It Planned for more than 40 years. It implies a great change for urban mobility in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires.
Cost: USD 500 millions (USD 300M Inter-American Development Bank funds; USD 200M public sectors founds)
Parties involved: public sector
Relevant contractual details:
International public contracts tenders, with regulations of multilateral credit organizations.
the Constitución-La Plata branch line it crosses four southern parts of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area: Avellaneda, Quilmes, Berazategui and La Plata. Among the four parties is concentrated a population of 1,904,188 people, according to the 2010 census.
Ex ante situation
Timeline
- Activity start date: August 2014
- Inauguration of the first electrical section of the Constitution-La Plata train: February 2016
- Inauguration of totally section of the Constitution-La Plata train: October 2017
- Project currently in execution: December 2020
The components of the project
Electrification: Installation of a 50 kV (kilovolt) catenary primary power system to feed the electric trains through a 25 kV catenary, with the corresponding power and protection lines and the side posts to the tracks with brackets mobile and fixed. Construction of a new transformer substation fed at 132 kV from the public network. Transformer substation: Finalized, 2016 catenary laying: Finalized, 2016
Adaptation of stations: Improvement in the design and functional performance of 5 stations on the branch, considering accessibility and improvement of public space, integration with other modes of transport and general functionality. Definitive Elevation of Platforms and Improvement of Stations finalized in 16 stations out of a total of 22 interventions.
Tolosa maintenance railway workshop: Construction and equipping of the Tolosa railway workshop for light training of trains. Finalized, October 2019. Ringuelet Viaduct: Construction of a 2.2-kilometer (km) viaduct in the town of Ringuelet. Low level crossing Avenues 1 and 32. Finalized, February 2018. Construction of a new Paso Bajo Nivel in one of the main accesses to the city of La Plata. Finalized, December 2020. Renewal of tracks and railway track devices: Improvement of tracks between the Avellaneda and La Plata stations. Soon in execution, January 2021.
Signalling and communications: Installation of a new automatic blocking signalling system and a new communications system for the branch line. Railway communications: Finalized, December 2020 railway signaling system: Work in progress, December 2020.
Relevance to QII
The realization of this project is considered to correspond to the principles of: Sustainable Growth & Development; Environmental Considerations; Social Considerations.
The percentage of households with unsatisfied basic needs in the province of Buenos Aires is 8%, and Berazategui and Quilmes (direct populations of the line) are above the indicator of unsatisfied basic needs.
On the other hand, 32% of the households linked to the Roca Line correspond to the three lowest levels defined in socio-economic terms.
The main development and social benefit are to improve universal accessibility to services and opportunities.
Likewise, this project has a notable environmental impact by replacing diesel to electric combustion technology.
Benefits
Modernization benefits projects:
- Provide a safe and reliable service.
- Improve connectivity
- Reduce accident levels.
- Improve quality and comfort.
- Reduce travel times.
- Increase the frequency.
- Reduce emissions
Before - Baseline project
Nowadays – Baseline 5 years
Lessons learned:
- This project was postponed for decades. The preparation and supervision required the training of technical personnel in the railway sector and institutional strengthening.
- The tenders were extraordinarily complex and required a high demand for trained procurement technicians.
- Given the scale of the complex project, it required the coordination of multiple governmental and social actors.
Unintended consequences:
- the works lasted longer than originally planned
- additional terms and costs in contracts
The improvement project for the Plaza Constitution-La Plata branch line is still underway. But many users have already felt the progress. An evaluation carried out by the Transport Ministry already shows positive results on the impact of the project. The survey, which was carried out in December 2016, includes users of the La Plata branch line and three other lines (Belgrano Sur, Urquiza and Constitution-Ezeiza branch of the Roca line).
According to the results of the study, in the branch to La Plata there is an average reduction in travel time of around 20%. Also registers improvements in other important indicators, such as satisfaction with the speed, frequency, punctuality, and comfort of the service, as well as improvements in the perception of users regarding public safety at stations.
Metrics
- The benefits and project success are measured by the following indicators:
- % Modal share of the railroad in the corridor Buenos Aires-La Plata
- % Actual travel times in Ramal Constitution - La Plata in services with stops at all stations
- Service reliability: compliance with programming
- Safety: Passenger accidents associated with train movement
- External audit _ Construction and adaptation of the railway infrastructure and superstructure.
Name of Institution
Transport Ministry. Undersecretary of Administrative Management
Website URL