Henry

Passenger and cargo trains could resume running between Kingston and Clarendon by next year, if the timeline announced by Transport Minister Mike Henry is met.

This is not the first time that Henry has announced plans to resume the island's rail service but it is the first time that he has given the nation a timeline.

Yesterday, Henry told journalists that the main problem preventing the rail service from resuming immediately was the broken tracks on the Sandy Gully bridge in the Corporate Area.

He declared that the tracks would be repaired within seven months, as work is to begin shortly.

"Your lines exist, we have engines that can run. You will not be building anything new, you would just be strengthening what needs to be strengthened," Henry said as he addressed the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing.

"We ran passengers the other day from Spanish Town (St Catherine) to Williamsfield (Clarendon)," Henry boasted, as he sought to assure journalists that getting the rail service back on track was more than a pipe dream.

According to Henry, financing the repair of the rails on the Sandy Gully bridge would come from the general bridge-building programme for which money has already been allocated.

No price tag

However, Henry was not able to say just how much money the Government would have to come up with before the rail service would resume islandwide.

Henry said that while deals with the Chinese were in the pipeline, running of the trains would not depend on any investor.

Last month, Henry had announced that his ministry was conducting a socio-economic impact assessment, while looking to re-scope the initial phase of the rail project to US$100 million, in keeping with a loan proposal to the China Ex-Im Bank.

At the same time, he claimed that a number of proposals were being assessed from local and overseas interests to operate rail services in Jamaica, and for the Jamaica Railway Corporation to transport aggregate.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com