A high-speed railway system is finally coming to America. And with America I mean Argentina and not the USA.

The newly elected President, Christina Kirchner, has decided to build a 710 km (440 mile) long high-speed railway system in Argentina for a total cost of $1.35 billion.

The French company Alstom has signed the contract to build the first high-speed railway system in America. Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport, says that “the Buenos Aires-Rosario-Cordoba line constitutes the largest very high speed rail project since the KTX project in Korea. It represents an essential component in the economic development of Argentina.”

The high-speed railway system is planned to link Argentina’s two major cities, Buenos Aires and Cordoba. The journey is estimated to take 3 hours instead of the 14 hours it normally takes today. Eight double deck trains, capable of speeds of up to 320kph, with a capacity of 500 passengers each, will be used.

Image credit: http://www.railway-technology.com

Spain recently inaugurated its brand new high-speed railway system called AVE (Alta Velocidad Española). The new high-speed trains will travel from Madrid to Málaga in a speed of up to 350 kilometres per hour. The journey will take around 2,5 hours. Before the new railway system the same journey with train would have taken around 4 hours.

The new high-speed railway system is a greener alternative, and in some cases, a faster alternative than by going the same journey by plane.

In April, the next part of AVE that connects Madrid and Barcelona is scheduled to be completed. When finished, people will be able to travel through all of Spain via high-speed trains.

The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, have praised AVE saying “it’s an effective and environmental friendly means of transportation”. Magdalena Álvarez, the Spanish Economic Minister, have said that “AVE opens many doors to the future” and that AVE “is a project that will create wealth and take us [Spain] another step towards the society we want to create”.

The Spanish government is planning to connect all the major cities in Spain with the AVE high-speed railway system. Year 2020 the whole system is planned to be finished to a total cost of 80,5 billion euros. Over 10000 kilometres of high-speed railways will then have been built across Spain.

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