SUCCESS OF BRITISH FIRMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 824, 24 May 1910, Page 5

SUCCESS OF BRITISH FIRMS.

The Chilian trans-Andine railway, with ft two miles long tunnel at an elevation °f nearly 12,000 feet, was recently ' completed by Messrs. C. H. Walker and Co./ of London (a firm of which Sir Robt. 1 orks is a member), tho engineers being Messrs. Liyesey, Son, and Henderson, of London. Another Cuban trans-Andine railway, from Arica (in Chili) to La £az (in Bolivia) has also, it is stated, been let to a British firm, Sir John Jackson, Ltd.

Probably the Chilian, railway referred w in to-day s cablegram is a lino which is to cross the Andes at ono of the low passes above Copiapo, to connect . with •?i.*lT ge tf ne nes * rom Tucuman and with the Bolivian system. The success of English firms m tendering is .notable, in view of the competition with American builders and the world. Advices from Chili sent in April stated:— The great trans-Andine railway connecting Buenos Ayres and Valparaiso flwd the eastern and western coasts of South America was opened today, when the first train was run through tho tunnel piercing the heights at La Cumbre.

One of the greatest undertakings in engineering is thus brought to a.successful conclusion. Henceforth it 'is possible to travel by rail across South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso, in about thirty hours. "The trans-continental line was begun as long as twenty-nine years ago. Tho final junction was effected by the forcing of a tunnel through La Cumbre Pass The tunnel is two miles long, and is at a height of noarly 12,000 feet above the sea. The line is by far the loftiest in the world.