Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-ir) -- After completing experimental stages and having obtained the necessary authorization, Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA), the consortium operating a railway in Peru linking the port of Callao with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco, put a locomotive running on compressed natural gas into operation.

The locomotive is being fueled with natural gas from the Camisea natural gas project.

"The benefit of the conversion (to natural gas) is that it protects the environment and reduces carbon dioxide emission by seven thousand tons," said FCCA president, Juan de Dios Olachea.

It was reported that the consortium plans on purchasing five more locomotives, giving the railway company a total of twenty locomotives.

The conversion, making it possible for the locomotive to run on compressed natural gas was reported to have cost $8.5 million.

It was announced that the company's entire fleet is to be converted in 2008, converting one locomotive per month.

At the presentation of the converted locomotive, Olachea gave details on the company's plans to modernize the railway company.

It was announced that rails would be replaced and that a 23-kilometer tunnel would be built in the Andes to reduce the 332km (206 mile) Lima-Huancayo journey to three and a half hours.