The Minister of Public Works, Juan Carlos García, faced questions from the mayors of the area.
Mayor Jorge Sharp of Valparaíso was one of the first authorities to react after President Gabriel Boric’s announcement regarding the route that will link the Metropolitan Region with the El Salto sector in Viña del Mar by train.
But it was not the only thing, the Buenos Aires municipality reached an agreement to ask La Moneda to reconsider the route that leaves this commune out. In parallel to this request, Rodrigo Mundaca, governor of the area, assured that he found out from the press the details of the presentation. Other mayors have presented their complaints due to the territorial proximity but they were not considered.
In this scenario, the Minister of Public Works defended the project that could begin to transport passengers in 2030.
“This is a presidential project that, of course, generates interest from different mayors. We understand very well, for example, that the mayor of Casablanca and Curacaví are disappointed because the train does not go through that place or the mayor of Valparaíso, that in this first stage the train does not reach that city. When we talk about infrastructure projects that are national, they are presidential decisions, that is how it has been in history and that is how it has been in this case,” said Juan Carlos García.
“This is a project that, unlike the others that only thought about the start point and the end point, will thus be able to allow a faster journey between start and end, as well as a local alternative that allows us to strengthen connectivity from towns like La Calera, Limache, with the regional capitals and that increases the number of passengers and social benefits”, added the Secretary of State in Mega.
“There are expectations about this train, for example they say ‘an hour and a half is not what we expected, we waited 45 minutes’, well, I tell them that it took 30 years for a project to come to fruition and for some reason it did not happen. The grace of this project is that it is becoming a reality for the first time… The project has already contemplated a second stage that involves two trains and this phase has a huge tunnel that will shorten the term to 45 minutes.“Extended Garcia.