COLOMBIA’s National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has called tenders for contract supervision, preliminary design studies, and technical feasibility assessments for several priority corridors within the country’s rail revival programme.
Procurement is being launched in order to meet the objective set by president, Gustavo Petro, to advance five priority projects before his term of office ends in August 2026. The priority corridors are:
- Caribbean - Pacific Interoceanic Line
- La Caro - Central Corridor
- Buenaventura - Palmira
- Yumbo - Caimalito, and
- Villavicencio - Puerto Gaitán.
The Ministry of Transport estimates the total investment required to complete all five projects at Pesos 172 trillion ($US 44bn). Transport minister, María Fernanda Rojas, says the start of tendering marks “the transition from planning to feasibility,” representing a critical step towards the country's long-term objective of rebuilding its national network for freight and passenger services.
All contracts are due to be awarded this month for work to begin by end of 2025. They include a contact worth up to Pesos 11.4bn to provide supervisory services for the Central Corridor project, with the objective of ensuring the quality and viability of studies defining the alignment and specifications of a route for passenger and freight services between central Colombia and Caribbean ports.
Worth up Pesos 91.2bn, the contract to undertake technical feasibility studies for a connection between Bogotá-Cundinamarca metropolitan area and the Central Corridor, as well as the Buenaventura - Palmira section of the Pacific Corridor, covers 393km of railway infrastructure and is valued at Pesos 91.2bn.
According to Vanguardia, the route is intended to accommodate both freight and passenger traffic. ANI’s pre-feasibility analysis evaluated three alignment options before determining the Bogotá - Barbosa - Barrancabermeja corridor to be the most cost-effective solution for connecting the capital with the north-south La Dorada - Chiriguaná freight corridor.
The new line presents substantial civil engineering challenges, requiring 94 tunnels totalling 132km, approximately one-third of the entire alignment, and 185 bridges totalling 56km in length. The longest tunnel will be 15.6km in length, and the largest bridge 3.2km.
Consultancy work due to be awarded this month also includes a contract worth up to Pesos 7bn to provide supervisory services for upgrading the section of the Pacific Corridor between the port of Buenaventura and Palmira, intended to increase freight capacity.
Feasibility studies and design work for the Yumbo - Caimalito - La Felisa section of the Pacific Corridor are budgeted at Pesos 26bn, with work expected to take eight months to complete. The associated supervisory services contract, worth up to Pesos 3bn, will ensure compliance with technical and contractual requirements.
The final tender is for a 10-month contract worth up to Pesos 7.7bn to provide technical, administrative, and environmental supervisory services for feasibility studies to build a new line across the Eastern Plains from Villavicencio to Puerto Gaitán.
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