 After graduating with a degree in engineering his expertise in building railway bridges was requested to help build the Transandine Railway which connected the Argentine railroad from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile.This line, climbing through the Andes through a 12,000-foot pass, was built in one of the most difficult railroad terrains in the world.Though the railway has not been functional since 1984, in 2006, both the Argentine and Chilean governments agreed to refurbish the railway and make it functional by the year 2010, at an estimated total cost of US$460 million.