China and Brazil begin work on $18.5 billion railway corridor linking Atlantic and Pacific ports

China and Brazil have started work to open an $18.5 billion corridor linking railways to ports in Brazil and Peru, shortening the transport route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. According to its developers, Brazilian state-owned Infra SA railway and China Railway, the route to be called the Bioceanic Railway will challenge the Panama Canal and lower freight costs from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina to the Peruvian shipping port of Chancay on the Pacific coast.

An artist’s image of the railway linking ports in Brazil and Peru.

The project, informally referred to as a “new Panama Canal over land,” includes partnerships with four privately owned railway companies in Brazil and Peru.

According to Infra SA and China Railway, much of the railway system already exists but requires expansion. In addition, new railway routes will be constructed through the Amazon jungle in western Brazil and northern Peru.

Proposed route of the trans-continental railway link from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean.

The Bioceanic Railway will begin in the city of Lucas do Rio Verde, in the state of Mato Grosso, and pass through the border with Bolivia, cross the entire state of Rondônia, and continue through the so-called southern Acre, near the Peruvian border. From there, the line will extend to the port of Chancay, built by Chinese companies and inaugurated in August 2025.

The project follows a failed attempt by two state-owned Chinese companies to construct a canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in Nicaragua. Although no official announcement was made, the project was abandoned for logistical and political reasons, according to sources in Beijing.

A Chinese company also holds controlling interest in terminals on the Panama Canal.