Ferrocarril Trasandino Los Andes - Mendoza
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Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
combined rack (Abt system) and adhesion
Rail adhesion
The term adhesion railway or adhesion traction describes the most common type of railway, where power is applied by driving some or all of the wheels of the locomotive. Thus, it relies on the friction between a steel wheel and a steel rail. Note that steam locomotives of old were driven only by...
railway which operated between Mendoza
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
across the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
mountain range via the Uspallata Pass
Uspallata Pass
The Uspallata Pass or Bermejo Pass is an Andean pass which provides a route between the wine-growing region around the Argentine city of Mendoza, the Chilean city Los Andes and Santiago the Chilean capital situated in the central Chilean valley...
to Santa Rosa de Los Andes
Los Andes, Chile
Los Andes, founded in July 31, 1791 as Santa Rosa de Los Andes, is a Chilean city and commune located in the province of the same name, in Valparaíso Region...
in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, a distance of 248 km. The railway has been out of service since 1984, and has been partly dismantled. It is now being reconstructed. Due to the lack of concrete actions to restore this link, the most recent estimations were that the line could be restored around October, 2009. However, as of October 2010, there is no indication of any restorative work underway.
History
The Transandine Railway was first projected in 1854. However, the construction of the line was rather later: it was the work of Juan and Mateo Clark, Chilean brothers of British descent, who were successful entrepreneurs in ValparaisoValparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
and in 1871 had built the first telegraph service across the Andes, between Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
in Chile.
In 1874 the Chilean government granted them the concession for the construction of the rail link. Because of financial problems, their company, Ferrocarril Trasandino Clark, did not begin work on the construction in Los Andes until 1887. The section between Mendoza and Uspallata was opened on 22 February 1891 and extended to Rio Blanco on 1 May 1892, to Punta de Vacas on 17 November 1893, to Las Cuevas on 22 April 1903. On the Chilean side the section from Santa Rosa de Los Andes to Hermanos Clark was opened in 1906, and extended to Portillo in February 1908. By 1910, when the entire line was first opened to traffic, the company had been taken over by the British-owned Argentine Transandine Railway Company.
The line followed roughly the ancient route taken by travellers and mule-trains crossing the Andes between Chile and Argentina and connected the broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
, , railway networks of the two countries, rising to a height of almost 3,200 metres at Las Cuevas where the track entered the Cumbre tunnel, about 3.2 km long, on the international border. Nine sections of rack were laid in the last 40 km of track on the Argentine approach to the tunnel, ranging from 1.2 km to 4.8 km in length, with a maximum gradient of 1 in 17 (5.88%). On the Chilean side there were seven sections of rack in just 24 km, of which one section was 16 km long with an average gradient of 1 in 13 (7.69%). Sections of the line were protected by snowsheds and tunnels.
Characteristics
Railway companies:The Transandine completed a 1408 km rail link between the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an port of Valparaiso, and provided the first rail route linking the southern Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
Oceans. This journey involved the use of services operated by the following five railway companies:
- Buenos Aires and Pacific RailwayBuenos Aires and Pacific RailwayThe Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina....
: Buenos Aires (Retiro terminusEstación RetiroRetiro Station is a large railway terminus in the Buenos Aires central business district in Argentina, located in the district of Retiro, opposite Plaza San Martín, a large public square....
) to Villa MercedesVilla Mercedes, San LuisVilla Mercedes is a city in the province of San Luis, Argentina. It lies on the center-east of the province, on the left-hand banks of the Quinto River, 32 km from the border with Córdoba, on National Route 148, and near the intersection of National Routes 8 and 7. National Route 7 links the city...
(689 km).
- Argentine Great Western RailwayArgentine Great Western RailwayThe Argentine Great Western Railway was a British-owned railway company, founded in 1887, that operated a broad gauge, , railway network in the Argentine provinces of San Luis, San Juan and Mendoza...
: Villa Mercedes to Mendoza (1,676 mm gauge) (354 km).
- Argentine Transandine Railway: Mendoza to the international border (Las Cuevas, Argentina) (159 km).
- Chilean Transandine: International border (Las Cuevas, Arg) to Santa Rosa de Los Andes (1,000 mm gauge) (73 km).
- Chilean State RailwayEmpresa de los Ferrocarriles del EstadoEmpresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado is the national railway of Chile.The track gauge is Indian gauge in the south and metre gauge in the north.-History:...
: Santa Rosa de Los Andes to ValparaísoValparaísoValparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
(1,676 mm gauge) 134 km).
Additional information:
- Passenger services from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso took about 36 hours in total, including changes of train in Mendoza and Los Andes, required because of the break-of-gaugeBreak-of-gaugeWith railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...
at these points. Previously the 5630 km journey by sea from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, around Cape HornCape HornCape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
, had taken eleven days.
- The Chilean Transandine railway was originally worked by Kitson-Meyer 0-8-6-00-8-6-0An 0-8-6-0, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, is a locomotive with no leading wheels, eight driving wheels fixed in a rigid frame, six driving wheels and no trailing wheels.-Examples:...
s rack and adhesion locomotives, two examples of which survive in Chile. The line was electrified in 1927 with Swiss-built electric locomotives.
- A glacial flood in 1934 destroyed 124 km of the Argentine section, which was later rebuilt.
- When the entire Argentine railway network was nationalisedRailway Nationalisation in ArgentinaIn 1948, during President Juan Perón’s first term of office, the seven British-owned and three French-owned railway companies then operating in Argentina, were purchased by the state...
in 1948, the Transandine Railway became part of the state-owned company Ferrocarril General San MartínFerrocarril General San MartínFerrocarril General San Martín , named after the former Argentine general José de San Martín, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the railway network in 1948...
.
- The Transandean railway could transport only limited amounts of cargo. The original passenger wagons were made of lightweight construction to keep the dead weight to a minimum. Accidents due to derailing of the trains were not uncommon. Trains would get stuck in snowbanks and passengers would be stranded, sometimes for days. Due to the limitations on freight and passenger-carrying capacity, and later due to competition from motor vehicle transport, along with the dangers and relative discomfort as well as slow movement of the trains, the Transandine railway was never a commercial success, however much of an "adventure" it may have been.
- During tensions between Chile and Argentina in 1977-78 all international railway use of the Transandine Railway was suspended. Fearing an invasion from Argentina that could take advantage of the railway, the Chilean military prepared to destroy key sections of the Transandine. However, road traffic including buses, automobiles, and similar vehicles was conducted through the railway's "Cumbre" tunnel: since the railway tunnel was not wide enough for two-way vehicle transit, groups of vehicles were controlled and ran alternately from the Chilean and Argentine sides of the tunnel. With the relative normalization of relations between the two countries, railway passenger service through the tunnel was resumed for a short period ending in 1979. The last freight train using the tunnel was in 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. However, progress has been limited, although travellers in April 2008 saw some activity on the Chilean side, including ballast renewal at the Aconcagua power station and labourers in action at Santa Rosa de Los Andes.
- In October 2008, a road trip from Mendoza to the Chilean border at Las Cuevas showed that the line is in a very neglected state but is by no means beyond repair. The rails are still in place, at least wherever the track can be seen from the road, but in many cases there are rocks and other debris on the track. In some places there is significant avalanche debris covering the track completely. In other places recent improvements to the main road have left behind construction debris on the track. In most cases the bridges are in excellent condition, some even showing signs of a recent coat of paint, in stark contrast to the state of the track itself. At Puente de Los Incas hundreds of tourists walk across the tracks every day to view the natural bridge. If it ever reopens, this line could easily be listed as one of the most spectacular railway journeys on earth. It must be noted that the rails and associated features on the Chilean side (from the tunnel at Los Libertadores to near the Saladillo junction (above the Río Blanco station)), are in much worse condition than the infrastructure on the Argentine side of the frontier. In many places the rails have been removed, or covered by landslides. Some of the sheds to protect the trains and rails from snow and rocks are now virtually buried or otherwise unusable. In some places erosion has undermined significant sections of track.
- On the Chilean side, the section between the town of Los Andes and a point above the old station of Río Blanco continues to be used for transport of copper mining materials (acids, copper, copper concentrates). At Río Blanco there is a rail connection to the Codelco mine at Saladillo. Modern diesel-electric locomotives are used.
Over the last two to three years momentum has been growing with a project to build a low level rail tunnel through the Andes between Argentina and Chile. It is estimated that the construction will cost some US$3 billion and when built that the railway will carry some 80% of the freight between Argentina, Brazil and Chile. An 8 member consortium of international companies has been formed to carry out the project and both governments have agreed to support it.