President Announces Investment in Trains: President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner introduced new trains for the San Martín line today. In a ceremony at the Sáenz Peña station, in the greater Buenos Aires, the president, together with Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo and Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli inaugurated 24 locomotives and 160 cars purchased from China for almost US$114m. During the ceremony, President Fernández announced that by 2015 all the train lines in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area will have been completely renewed, with an investment over three years of US$1.6bn. She also informed that she signed a decree allowing for the circulation of road trains on national roads, as a way to lower costs and cause less damage to the asphalt.
Opposition Forms New Political Alliance: Leaders of the opposition Frente Amplio and UNEN political coalitions formally introduced yesterday a new alliance, called Frente Amplio UNEN (FAUNEN). All the potential presidential candidates for the new alliance were present at the Brodway Theatre in Buenos Aires, where the ceremony took place. Candidacies for 2015 are expected to be decided through primary elections next year. The coalition is formed by over ten parties, including the UCR, Socialist Party, Coalición Cívica, GEN, Libres del Sur, and Proyecto Sur, amongst others. The self-defined representatives of the centre-left will seek to compete against the government and other Peronist candidates in the next elections. Doubts remain within the coalition as to their willingness to close a deal with Mauricio Macri’s PRO, which has shown interest in forming coalitions to expand its presence throughout the country. Referring to this, socialist Hermes Binner said that FAUNEN “is well represented by the current parties,” but “this does not cancel the possibility that other progressive parties may join.”
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