The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-19
NEW RAILROAD TOSPAN ANDES
 AT 1O,5OO FEET
By THOMAS ?. MOORE nliNa Rrnss Stan CArrasnnnilNnil

1y AMONAM0 Es MVVNkA
 (Unlted Press Stan CoFrespondent)
 Buenos Aires, Jan. le- (UPl More than 1000 husky laborers picked for their ability to work in high attitudes are constructing a trans-Andean railway on Q desolate l0.S00-foot plateau in northern Ar gentina to link the agriculturally- rich province of Salta with the Chilean nitrate port Antotagasta, 576 miles away.
 Working so fast that construc- ton is expected to end in le45, one year ahead of schedule, forward gangs already are building the roadbed within l2 miles of the Chilean frontier, while other crews, ll0 miles behind them. are laying track. Recently they laid one mile of track in one day, record for work in such a high altitude.
 Similar to the crews who worked eastward from California to meet the tracklayers pushing westward on the first transcontinental United States railway. another group on the Chilean side of the Andes is building line to connect with the Argentine railway at the border.
 Argentine State Railways author itieS in charge of construction told the United Press hat daily freight trains will haul vegetables and meat from Salta to AntofagaSta in l945 If 80 miles of rails. con- tracted for in the United States arrive in time. The Argentines hope that when roadbed construction ends ns1t June sufficient American rails will have been delivered to continue tracklaying. Meantime, they are laying 25 miles of rails on hand.
 Completion of their railway will snd one of the Andes last great trade barriers. Hitherto Antofa- gasta, rich in nitrate but situated in one of the worlds most desolate, ,ainless sections, has had to im- port many of its foodstuffs from central and southern Chile-while Salta luxuriated in agricultural wealth only 300 airline miles away.
 Although 1t is unlikely that Salta will import goods made n Anto- sagaSta, which produces solely ni- trate, Argentine authorities believe that the railway traffic will not be 0ne-sided. Construction of the line will shorten by 2,750 miles the route which automobiles and agri- cultural machinery, for instance, imported from New York to Salta must take, by permitting their shipment down the west coast and over the Andes instead of by the longer eaSt-coast route and l.0O0- mile transshipment from BuenoS Aires. Similarly, the railway will facilitate trade between northern Argentina and all Pacific points.
 Nevertheless, the Argentine gov- ernment, which is building the line in It's own territory, does not look at the railways business aspect through rose-colored glasses. One high authority in the Argentine State Railways told the United Press that although the govern ment will invest approximately ST. 500, 900 dollars in the line, includ- ing rolling steck. it does not ex- pect to regain one cent of that amount, at least in the near future. However, 1t is believed that the road will pay for its maintenance, and that will increase the progress and wealth of northern Argentina.
 Passenger traffic will be small because of the sparse populations in the areas which the railway will serve. Only one passenger train weekly will be provided, a Diesel unit.
 Unlike the Saniago- -Buenos Aires transsA Andean railroad some 600 miles south, the Salta- a-Antofagasta line will not encounter difficulties with snow in winter The atmos- phere is so arid in the region which the railway traverses that no rain nor snow falls in winter.