THE Chinese government would have Jamaicans rushing in and out of train stations on the tiny island in less than two years, if only it could get the Jamaican government to sign off on a deal to get the trains rolling there again.

Work on the long-waited rehabilitation of the railroad would commence early next year if the Jamaican Cabinet votes in favour of the project, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Zhenyu told the Observer.

“A Chinese technical team has indicated that the project can be finished within 20 months from the day of commencement”, he explained.

Ambassador Zhenyu, whose term of duty in Jamaica ends in a few days, said the project would be completed in two phases; the first section from Kingston to Spanish Town would take 12 months, while the rest of the railroad to Montego Bay would take another eight months. “The first section can be put into operation while the second section is being built”, the ambassador said.

He said the Cabinet had already begun to review the project, but had two main concerns: the ability of the government to repay a proposed loan from the Chinese government to help finance the project, and whether Jamaica had the expertise to maintain the railway.

Ambassador Zhenyu told the Observer that he hoped the Cabinet would make a decision on the project before the year ends.

“If the decision of Cabinet is favourable, the project can start early next year”, he said.

Commenting on possible objection to the project by the operators of Highway 2000 – the toll road that stretches between Kingston and Clarendon – the ambassador said there was enough traffic in Jamaica for both to be viable.

“People should be given the choice of the highway and railway. Some people don’t like to drive long distances and some people don’t have cars. For ordinary Jamaicans, it would be cheaper to travel by railroad, and it would be good for tourism, as tourists could travel by rail between your political capital city and your tourism capital city”, said Zhenyu.

In addition, he suggested that containers from the ports of Kingston and Montego Bay as well as agricultural produce, could be transported by railroad in order to keep down costs.

The response to the project from most Jamaicans has been favourable, the ambassador said.

“I think many Jamaicans are crazy about this project”, he quipped.

The ambassador also noted that not many countries around the world were still building railways, but that China was an exception.

“We (the Chinese) recently built and opened to traffic a railway from China to Tibet, where they came across very difficult terrain, but we managed to do it very well. I’m sure the Jamaican terrain is not as difficult”, he said.

The Chinese first committed to the rehabilitation of the railway in February 2005 when a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with the government.

Since then there have been several visits and meetings from the parties involved in the project slated to cost US$300 million.