In the early morning of Buenos Aires, the platform of Constitution Square Station is crowded with commuters heading towards the city center. Not long after the train departed, the wheels rolled over a set of turnouts, and with a slight deviation of the body, it switched from one track to another. It is these steel devices laid at the intersection of the tracks that determine whether this busiest commuter railway in South America can be punctual every day. Not long ago, a batch of Chinese made turnouts that may replace them have just completed the bidding process.

Replacing old lines with new tracks

The Argentine National Railway Infrastructure Company has completed the bid opening for the procurement project of 46 sets of turnouts for the first phase of the four track track renovation of the Roca Line. The renovation project aims to comprehensively update the existing four sections of the line leading to the downtown area of Buenos Aires, ranging from Constitution Square Station to Tampere Station. It is the core section of the Roca Line with the highest passenger flow and operational intensity. The project includes replacing UIC 54 E1 R260 grade steel rails and concrete sleepers, updating turnouts, renovating bridges and structures along the line, and implementing accessibility improvements to some stations, making it the largest infrastructure upgrade on this line in nearly 40 years. This batch of turnouts will be used for the first phase of the project, which is the track renewal of the 11.2-kilometer section between Kolo 4 point and Tampeli station. The bidding for the civil engineering renovation of this section is currently underway. The bidding documents indicate that the contract scope covers equipment design, supply and pre assembly, as well as delivery of spare parts packages.

Bidding for two sections

This procurement is divided into two sections. Section 1 consists of 24 groups, with bidding companies offering prices ranging from 4.38 million to 5.99 million US dollars, with China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation offering the lowest price; Section 2 consists of 22 groups, with a quotation range of 4.38 million to 4.98 million US dollars, and the lowest quotation is from Austria's Osteel Group. Except for China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, which only participated in the bidding for Section 1, the other three companies simultaneously bid for two sections, with two Chinese companies competing on the same stage as two European companies. It is speculated that the property owner will also launch the bidding for the procurement of turnouts for the second phase of Tempeli Station and the third phase of Constitution Square to Kolo Point 4 in the near future, and the market space in the future is still considerable.

Chinese enterprises make consecutive appearances

This is the third time this year that two Chinese companies have appeared in the bidding for railway turnouts in Argentina. In March of this year, 17 sets of European standard turnouts independently developed by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry were shipped from Zhuzhou, Hunan, and exported to Argentina through Tianjin Port for use in the Mendoza Light Rail Upgrade Project. They cover models such as the 54E1 rail No. 8 single turnout, No. 8 and No. 9.5 diamond cross, and use new technologies such as a dedicated spring clip system and a large fixed obtuse angle frog. In August, the bidding for the supply project of 12 sets of turnouts at Madprata Station on the Roca Line was opened, with six companies and consortia competing. keywords:Engineering infrastructure

China Railway Construction Heavy Industry and China Railway Shanqiao were both listed. During the same period, in the evaluation of the procurement project for 23 sets of turnouts for another 6 stations on the Belgrano North Line, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry and Wuhu China Railway Kejifu Rail Co., Ltd. competed fiercely with a consortium of Spain and Argentina. Previously, the Roca Line had also purchased Chinese made intercity high-speed trains in bulk. Now, the role of Chinese enterprises is expanding from providing vehicles to providing core components of the track.Editor/Yang Meiling