Bidding underway for the US$300 million Melipilla-Santiago-Batuco railroad concession, deadline 30th July, 2002. The winning consortium will be announced in August and will then have to develop detailed engineering studies. Bidders are Agencias Universales, OHL, Alstom Chile, Dragados, Jarvis Facilities and FCC. Construction work to begin second half of 2003. Obligatory minimum stretch goes from Alameda station in Santiago to Talagante, southwest of the capital. Optional extensions to Melipilla, 70 km from Santiago, and to Batuco, north of the city. If the winner develops the Santiago-Batuco stretch, a 4 km tunnel will be required under the San Cristobal hill from the Quinta Normal station to Batuco. 23/02.The tender for the railway concession for the suburban train named Melitren to link Santiago with Padre Hurtado, Talagante and Melipilla has been declared void. None of the six consortia submitted any bid. The six interested bidders are: Ferrocarriles Gran Santiago (Agunsa, FCC, Alstom, RATP and Comsa); OHL; Ferrocarril Metropolitano (Dragados and ACS); Jarvis International Ltd; Ferroviaria Metropolitana (Ferrostal, Tecna and Sencorp); and Sacyr. The project has an estimated value of US$300 million for building a 63.74 km line from Melipilla station to the future intermodal station in Quinta Normal where a 4 km tunnel was planned. Visit www.moptt.cl 52/02.