Chinese and Columbian authorities are in talks to build a transcontinental railway, which would link Colombia's Atlantic and Pacific coasts and provide an alternative to the Panama Canal.
The $7.6bn rail link project will be funded by the China Development Bank and operated by the China Railway Group.
The rail line is planned to have the capacity to transport about 40 million tons of cargo per year from Colombia to the Pacific.
The 220km dry canal will stretch from the Pacific coast to a new city near Cartagena, on the northern Atlantic coast of Colombia. From there, imported Chinese goods would be re-exported to America, according to the British Financial Times.
Colombian raw materials will use the same rail line for the export to China.
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