🚆 Stuck at the border

One factor in the European Union's development was a dense rail network that carries passengers and freight across borders. Mercosur has no equivalent: its four founding members are joined by rail on the map and almost nowhere else.

Brazil's southern network runs on 1,000 mm metric gauge. The Argentine, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan lines that meet it run on 1,435 mm standard gauge. Uruguay's rolling stock and part of Argentina's Urquiza fleet use European-style couplers; Brazil uses the AAR type. A wagon loaded in Porto Alegre cannot roll into Argentina, and an Argentine wagon cannot roll into Brazil…

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