All Aboard the Ecuadorian Railways |
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 The
party lasted for four days when on 25th June 1908 the train chugged its
way in to the Ecuadorian capital. The streets and tracks were adorned
with giant arches of palm fronds and laurels, like the arrival of a
king.
For this big day to take place, a lot of blood, sweat
and tears had been shed since the beginning of the project over 30
years earlier – from 1874 when the first locomotive arrived at Milagro
in the province of Guayas, through to 1899 when the liberal president,
General Eloy Alfaro made the construction of one of the most greatest
infrastructure, transport and commercial projects in the country’s
history a national priority.
And so the railway became the
dream of tens of thousands of workers and ordinary Ecuadorians. Bit by
bit. Rail by rail. From the coastal plains to snow-capped peaks, the
train united the coast and the Andes, thus creating a truly united
Ecuador for the first time in its history.
But time passed, and
various stretches of the route fell into disrepair and eventually,
ruin. Maintaining the challenging engineering system became
increasingly difficult and expensive. The train and railway operators
had to look elsewhere for work as the skills they had dedicated their
lives to applying became obsolete. The giants fell into a deep slumber.
From Sleep to a New Dawn
But
three decades later, the trains are waking to a new dawn in rail travel
in Ecuador. Today, the tracks are ready to receive the roaring engines,
the stations renovated to receive travellers from every corner of the
globe, and the bells and horns readied to call out the crossings as the
locomotives wend their way through the most beautiful landscapes
imaginable. Machinists, brakemen, coalmen, engineers, controllers and
sandboxers are once again reaching for their hats, as children wave
them on their way through the countryside.
The Ecuadorian Railways (EFE, www.efe.gov.ec ) in May 2009 re-launches the “most difficult railway in the world”, following an investment to date of $14 million.
The
train rehabilitation project encompasses the whole country, but has
focused initially on the stretch connecting Quito with Latacunga, 100
km to the south of the capital. The work will continue to connect
Latacunga with Riobamba, linking the dramatic stretch of line, known as
the Devil’s Nose, which descends down from Riobamba as far as Sibambe.
From there, the track splits. One branch heads southwest towards Durán
on the coastal plain (a short drive from the city of Guayaquil), while
the other carves its way southwards through the mountains to Ecuador’s
third largest city, Cuenca.
There is also a branch that runs
north of Quito towards the provincial capital of Ibarra in Imbabura
Province. However that track will take some time to repair. In the
meantime, the branch which runs from Ibarra northwest to the coastal
town of San Lorenzo is working in part, with a service at weekends as
far as the small town of Salinas.
The Quito-Latacunga route will
initially run only on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, using
the ‘autoferro’ train (which is effectively a bus on rails). See our
Trains Times page for more information.
EFE contacts:www.efe.gov.ec
Address: Bolivar 443 y Garcia Moreno
Tel: +593 2 258 5710
As well as EFE trains, three private companies organise train tours in Ecuador. These are:
Ecuador Adventure’s steam tours – www.steaminecuador.com
Klein Tours’ Chaski Antawa – www.ecuadortrain.com
Metropolitan Touring’s Chiva Express – www.chivaexpress.com
For images and videos of the train, see the Quito Visitors’ Bureau train gallery , or the EFE Image Gallery , and the EFE Video Gallery
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