Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato

New Puerto Cabello – La Encrucijada railway line
Having developed the final design for the civil engineering for the El Palito-La Encrucijada route and pre-design for the infrastructure and railway works on the Moron-Porto Puerto Cabello intermodal link (27km), Italferr is completing the final and executive design for the railway works on the El Palito-La Encrucijada line. 

The El Palito-La Encrucijada route is part of the development planned for a more complex multi-modal freight and passenger transport system which must integrate the different requirements and modes of transport via the creation of logistics centres and terminals both railway (dry ports) and maritime (terminal and container), to interact with road transport. 

The line will link the country’s main port (Puerto Cabello) with the big industrial and agro-food centres of Valencia and Maracay. At a later stage, a link is planned with the towns of San Juan de los Morros, Calabozo and Cabruta, which is the main port on the Orinoco-Apure river axis. The railway line will in future also be linked to the Caracas-Tuy Medio route, which is part of the same railway system. 

The new railway’s 109km, which, following international standards shall be double track with a maximum speed of 200km/h, crosses through fifteen tunnels (36km overall) the mountainous part of the path, and also twenty-six bridges and fifty-two viaducts (18km overall), to enable an uninterrupted link. 

The project includes development of seven passenger stations, two dry ports, two line and rolling stock maintenance facilities. 

Italferr is working on behalf of Consorcio Gruppo Contuy, which has been entrusted with completion of the works by the Instituto Autónomo de Ferrocariles del Estado (IAFE).