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Transport in Venezuela

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Transport in Venezuela revolves around a system of highways and airports. Venezuela is connected to the world primarily via air (Venezuela's airports include the Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas and La Chinita International Airport near Maracaibo) and sea (with major seaports at La Guaira, Maracaibo and Puerto Cabello). In the south and east the Amazon rainforest region has limited cross-border transport; in the west, there is a mountainous border of over 1,375 miles (2,213 km) shared with Colombia. The Orinoco River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 km inland, and connects the major industrial city of Ciudad Guayana to the Atlantic Ocean.

Venezuela has a limited national railway system, which has no active rail connections to other countries. Several major cities have metro systems; the Caracas Metro has been operating since 1983. The Maracaibo Metro and Valencia Metro were opened more recently. Venezuela has a road network of around 100,000 km (placing it around 47th in the world); around a third of roads are paved.

As of 2019, about 80% of public transportation is not operational within the country.[1]

Railways

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Map based on IFE maps[2] of lines operating (purple), lines being restored (blue) and lines under construction (green) as at 2017
Main article: Instituto de Ferrocarriles del Estado


total proyected: 7000 km (?) (248 km privately owned, including Orinoco Mining Company)
standard gauge: 682 km (40 km electrified) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) ([3])

Cities with underground railway systems

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See also

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Maps

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Standards

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Stations

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Main article: Railway stations in Venezuela

Timeline

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2006

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  • Venezuela awards contracts worth $2.2 billion to build two new railway lines. Construction on the two new lines connecting San Juan de los Morros to San Fernando de Apure and connecting Chaguaramas to Cabruta is expected to begin in Q2 2006 and is expected to take six years to complete. April 2006 in rail transport.
  • In October 2006, Venezuela opened a new Caracas-Cúa railway, the first new railway in the country for 70 years[6]
  • "Towards the end of this month, we would have final discussions with Mittal Steel," said Mr Kapur, adding that the initial discussions took place in March.[citation needed] Moreover, Ircon is also likely to construct a new rail line in Venezuela at an estimated cost of $350 million.

2008

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2009

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  • March 2009 - China to help build new network [7]

Highways

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Automobile transport is encouraged by the fact that Venezuela has the lowest petrol prices in the world, at $0.18 per gallon ($0.05 per liter).[8] In some cases, petrol is less expensive than bottled water.[8]


total: 96,155 km
paved: 32,308 km
unpaved: 63,847 km (1997 est.)

Motorways

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Venezuela has a fairly developed motorway network, certainly more developed than in most of South American nations. It is especially operative in the Northern and Western parts of the country, connecting the main cities of the country. The following roads feature at least 4 lanes and double carriageway:

Waterways

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7,100 km; Rio Orinoco (400 km) and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels

Pipelines

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  • extra heavy crude 980 km
  • crude oil 6,694 km
  • refined products 1,620 km
  • natural gas 5,347 km (2010)

Ports and harbors

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Air travel

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Main article: List of airlines of Venezuela

In 2012, Venezuela had 492 airports.[citation needed]

In 2014, due to difficulty converting bolivars to other currencies, many international airline either cut back or entirely cancelled service to the country. A shortage of seats caused international ticket prices to rise; one report found airfare to Miami more than double the fare to Miami from Bogota in Colombia.[9]

Airports - with paved runways

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Simón Bolívar International Airport


total: 128
over3,047 m: 6
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9
1,524 to 2,437 m: 35
914 to 1,523 m: 61
under 914 m: 17 (2012)

Airports - with unpaved runways

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total: 364
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 55
914 to 1,523 m: 113
under 914 m: 193 (2012)

Heliports

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3 (2012)

Cable car

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Venezuela has had in times the world's highest cable car in operation. The Mérida cable car opened in 1960, connecting Mérida with the top of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. It was closed indefinitely in 2008, having reached the end of its service life. After an extensive renovation and the renewal of its fleet, operations resumed in 2016.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "El 80% del transporte público terrestre en Venezuela está paralizado". La Patilla (in European Spanish). 2019-06-13. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  2. ^ http://www.ife.gob.ve/Sistema_ferroviario/#lineaope
  3. ^ Index Mundi: Venezuela Railways
  4. ^ C.A. Metro de Caracas
  5. ^ Encarta Archived 2008-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ VENEZUELA: A Bolivarian railway, by Coral Wynter & Jim McIlroy, Caracas (link) [permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "The Opportunity To Revitalise The Rail Sector". Railwaysafrica.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  8. ^ a b "Venezuela- $0.18 per gallon ($0.05 per liter) - CSMonitor.com". The Christian Science Monitor. 13 September 2011.
  9. ^ Reuters
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