Venezuela's Chavez inaugurates train line amid re-election bid

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela's Chavez inaugurates train line amid re-election bid
The Associated Press
Published: October 15, 2006

CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez inaugurated a new US$2.4 billion (€1.9 billion) rail line that could boost his popularity among Caracas commuters as he seeks re-election in December.

"This is a historical day because we are going to put a tool of development into motion, something that should have been done long ago," Chavez told reporters on Sunday before boarding the Japanese-made train serving Venezuela's traffic-clogged capital and the Tuy Valleys suburbs.

The 41-kilometer (25-mile) rail line runs from the town of Cua, south of Caracas in central Miranda state, to La Rinconada, home to a new subway station on the edge of the capital.

The train will transport tens of thousands of people daily to and from working class suburbs home to 290,000 people. A one-way ticket will cost the equivalent of US$1.20 (€.96).

Chavez said the line will form part of a nationwide rail network connecting all the South American country's main cities — an ambitious undertaking that may take decades to finish.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/16/america/LA_GEN_Venezuela_New_Train.php

[leftchick]

1. VIVA Chavez!!!

[Sensitivity]

2. Why is Hugo using JAPAN. Better to use new Light-Rail Tech and Build

own public trans industry for South America.

www.cybertran.com

[merwin]

3. And Seattle is stuck with a Monorail to nowhere...

How dare these "dictatorships" treat their people so horribly!

[PeaceProgProsp]

4. This is the kind of defecit spending that would make Keynes happy

and FDR too.