Since then passenger rail service in Colombia is provided only as tourist steam trains on the Bogotá savanna railway, now called Turistren, and between Bogotá and Zipaquirá, and a general daily passenger service around Barrancabermeja, and its surroundings (Puente Sogamoso, Garcia Cadena, Puerto Berrio, and Puerto Parra), provided by Coopsercol.

In November 2009, the Colombian government set up a new team of consultants and specialists to oversee the estimated $440m Sistema Ferroviario Central railway concession.

The project involves building a 1,050 kilometres (650 mi) railway from La Dorada to Chiriguaná, linking Colombia's central area to the Santa Marta port on the Atlantic coast.

China is looking into constructing a 220 kilometres (140 mi) stretch of railway that would complete the link between the port cities Buenaventura and Cartagena, connecting Colombia's Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

[4][5][6] Besides linking two coasts, the railway's aim is to make the import Colombian coal and the export of Chinese manufactured goods to the Americas easier.