Transandine Railway

The Trans- Andean Railway (Spanish: Ferrocarril trasandino Los Andes Mendoza or short trasandino ) was a narrow gauge, narrow gauge 248 km long railway line between the cities of Los Andes in Chile and Mendoza in Argentina.

History

The project of a trans- Andean railway had existed since 1854. The topographical difficulties in the construction of such a route through the mountains made ​​the construction but only much later possible. This program is implemented eventually was used by the English -born Chilean brothers Juan and Mateo Clark, who had erected in 1871 and the first, the Andes crossing telegraph line. In 1874 it received the Chilean concession for railway construction and founded the railway company Ferrocarril Transandino Clark. There was considerable difficulty in collecting the required capital for the project, could be so began construction in 1887, who started from Los Andes from.

The first section between Mendoza and Uspallata was opened on 22 February 1891. Gradually, other sections were put into operation. Officially the route on 25 May 1910, opened at a major international exhibition in Buenos Aires to mark the centenary of the Independence of Argentina. Meanwhile, the Ferrocarril Transandino Clark had been taken over by the Argentine Transandine Railway Company, which was in British hands.

The Transandino made ​​it possible for the first time - with repeated transfer - between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso to travel by train, a distance of 1408 km. For the travelers had to use the tracks of five different railway companies. At the same time, it was the first South American rail link between the Pacific and Atlantic. The travel time was 36 hours. The same way - previously traveled by ship around Cape Horn - took 11 days and was 5630 kilometers long.

Technical design

The route followed roughly the mule track, on the road over the mountains was carried out until then by mules. She joined the broad-gauge railway networks in Argentina and Chile. On the route were 291 passages in a total length of 438 meters, 39 bridges with a total length of 1,276 meters, the long build three kilometers Tunel de la Cumbre and ten smaller tunnels with a total length of 533 meters due to the topography. The topography -induced steep climbs and descents that made in parts gear operation required. For this, the Abt system was used. On the Argentine side there on the 40 kilometers before the apex nine rack sections that were 1.2 to 4.8 kilometers long. The maximum slope was 5.88 percent here. The railway used the Uspallata Pass. At the apex at around 3,200 meters above sea level, the construction of the three- kilometer-long Tunel de la Cumbre was required. The breakthrough of the tunnel was made on 27 November 1909. In the tunnel, the border between Argentina and Chile runs. On the Chilean side, there were seven rack portions over a distance of 24 kilometers with a single length up to 16 kilometers. The maximum slope was 7.69 percent here.

Operation

Originally, the train was operated by steam locomotives. Two of them are located in the Museum of Santiago de Chile. 1927, the line was electrified. The operation of the route was through the high mountain climate always difficult. Sometimes they had to be closed during the winter months. Because of the high investment costs, the tariffs of the railway were about ten times higher than usual in Argentina or Chile. All this made ​​them economically not be a success. 1934 124 kilometers of the route were destroyed on the Argentinian side of an ice avalanche, but rebuilt. In 1948, the Argentine section of the course was awarded under the railway nationalization of state-owned Ferrocarril General San Martín. During the political tensions between Argentina and Chile 1977/78 of the rail was set. 1979 there was still a short time passenger traffic on the route. The remaining freight was largely discontinued after an avalanche that destroyed the Chilean border crossing facility on August 3, 1984. Only a remnant on the Chilean side between Los Andes and some copper mines at Rio Blanco is still operated in freight traffic. Until the early 1980s, the pass road was regularly closed in winter, so that the railroad was the only transport route in this region over the Andes. The Tunel de la Cumbre was also during breaks in operation of the train - to be used by road vehicles - each in one direction. The traffic was controlled by traffic lights. This happens even today, if a detour for road transport is required.

Planned re-commissioning

Originally a new line of Zapala to Lonquimay was being considered for a new rail link at the beginning of the 21st century. Since the construction costs are much higher than the cost of repairing the already existing line, the reactivation of the Trans Andean railway was planned. There are different assessments about the present condition of the railway facilities.

Decision in 2006, the governments of Argentina and Chile, to set the path to 2010 again. The costs were estimated at 460 million U.S. dollars. The work was well started, but made ​​little progress.

On 21 August 2009 the Minister of Transport of the two countries involved signed an agreement providing for a broad-gauge and electrified railway line, the apex of which remains below 2,500 meters above sea level and therefore requires an up to 23 -kilometer trans- Andean tunnel basis. The cost estimate is three billion U.S. dollars.