The Trans-Amazonian Railway is a proposed transcontinental railway through the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. The project was conceived in 2013 and announced in 2015 by Chinese and Bolivian leaders as part of a larger plan to create a Chinese-funded transportation network to support Bolivian imports and exports. The

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...

megaproject A megaproject is an extremely large-scale construction and investment project. A more general definition is "Megaprojects are temporary endeavours (i.e. projects) characterised by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in org ...

proposed to link the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

s by cutting through the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

. It was estimated to cost $10 billion circa 2015 and $72 billion circa 2023, and may not be able to recoup costs. Its sister projects include the Nicaragua Canal and a Colombian railway. It was included in the Brazilian National Transportation Plan. The project received backlash from various native tribes, conservationists, ecologists, and news media concerned with the integrity of the Amazon rainforest and negative impact on the lives and well-being of native peoples. Past development projects have endangered native peoples with the introduction of violence from illegal loggers and cattle ranchers. There are also concerns that environmental impact has not been properly gauged and communicated to the parties it would effect. An analogous project, the Trans-Amazonian Highway, had a markedly negative impact on native peoples. Some analysts believe that the railroad is preferential to a trans-continental highway network, as the majority of deforestation happens around roads. The proposed railway would re-use a good portion of already deforested land, reducing impact. There is a strong incentive to the economy of South America by increasing trade with Asia, and export of beef, soybean, and minerals are expected to boost the economy of several countries along its route. China has encouraged this project both with direct funding and by lifting bans on South American beef imports. As of 2023 China is Brazil's largest beef export market, spending $8 billion on Brazilian beef in 2022. Cattle and beef play a primary role in the deforestation of the Amazon. Cattle ranching is responsible for five times more deforestation in South America than other analyzed commodities, and cattle accounts for 36% of tree cover loss worldwide. Cattle ranching is especially destructive due to the

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

method ranchers use to clear land, and the feeding habits of cattle being especially thorough and difficult for plants to recover from. , construction has not started yet. The Bolivian state has received assistance from the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

and the China Development Bank. The project faces environmental, civil, financial, and legal hurdles.

References

External links

EF-354 - TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

The Transcontinental Railroad: an interactive map
Railway lines in Brazil Proposed railway lines in South America Proposed railway lines in Brazil {{SouthAm-rail-transport-stub

See also

References

External links