Transport in Venezuela


Transport in Venezuela revolves around a system of highways and airports. Venezuela is connected to the world primarily via air and sea. In the south and east the Amazon rainforest region has limited cross-border transport; in the west, there is a mountainous border of over shared with Colombia. The Orinoco River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 km inland, and connects the major industrial city of Ciudad Guayana to the Atlantic Ocean.
Venezuela has a limited national railway system, which has no active rail connections to other countries. Several major cities have metro systems; the Caracas Metro has been operating since 1983. The Maracaibo Metro and Valencia Metro were opened more recently. Venezuela has a road network of around 100,000 km ; around a third of roads are paved.
As of 2019, about 80% of public transportation is not operational within the country.

Railways

total:
7000 km

standard gauge:
682 km

Cities with underground railway systems

Railway links with adjoining countries

Maps

Standards

Timeline

2006

  • Venezuela awards contracts worth $2.2 billion to build two new railway lines. Construction on the two new lines connecting San Juan de los Morros to San Fernando de Apure and connecting Chaguaramas to Cabruta is expected to begin in Q2 2006 and is expected to take six years to complete. April 2006 in rail transport.
  • In October 2006, Venezuela opened a new Caracas-Cúa railway, the first new railway in the country for 70 years
  • "Towards the end of this month, we would have final discussions with Mittal Steel," said Mr Kapur, adding that the initial discussions took place in March. Moreover, Ircon is also likely to construct a new rail line in Venezuela at an estimated cost of $350 million.

2008

2009

  • March 2009 - China to help build new network

Highways

Automobile transport is encouraged by the fact that Venezuela has the lowest petrol prices in the world, at $0.18 per gallon. In some cases, petrol is less expensive than bottled water.

total:
96,155 km

paved:
32,308 km

unpaved:
63,847 km

Motorways

Venezuela has a fairly developed motorway network, certainly more developed than in most of South American nations. It is especially operative in the Northern and Western parts of the country, connecting the main cities of the country. The following roads feature at least 4 lanes and double carriageway:

Waterways

7,100 km; Rio Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels

Pipelines

Ports and harbors

Air travel

In 2012, Venezuela had 492 airports.
In 2014, due to difficulty converting bolivars to other currencies, many international airline either cut back or entirely cancelled service to the country. A shortage of seats caused international ticket prices to rise; one report found airfare to Miami more than double the fare to Miami from Bogota in Colombia.

Airports - with paved runways

[Image:Maiquetiaairport.jpg|thumb|Simón Bolívar International Airport]

total:
128

over3,047 m:

2,438 to 3,047 m:

1,524 to 2,437 m:
35

914 to 1,523 m:
61

under 914 m:
17

Airports - with unpaved runways

total:
364

2,438 to 3,047 m:

1,524 to 2,437 m:
55

914 to 1,523 m:
113

under 914 m:
193

Heliports

3

Cable car

Venezuela has had in times the world's highest cable car in operation. The Mérida cable car opened in 1960, connecting Mérida with the top of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. It was closed indefinitely in 2008, having reached the end of its service life. After an extensive renovation and the renewal of its fleet, operations resumed in 2016.