TREN DE LA SIERRA!! From April 13, 2006 until the  end of November, the train from Lima to Huancayo  runs weekly! Photo Hansruedi Jäger FLB

The 9th General Assembly will be held on February 25, 2006 at its already traditional meeting place in the Quartierzentrum Gutschick-Mattenbach in Winterthur. All members have received the invitation along with this VoT. In addition, the annual reports of the president, the PR manager and the treasurer have been sent, too. The updated FLB statutes are also distributed. The update is necessary after the foundation of the AIFFLA cooperative acts and has to be approved by the General Assembly. 

Registration of interested persons is continuing; so far 28 names are on the list, about half of them FLB members. They come from Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. The first info was published in Nr. 38 of the FCN magazine. The second info sheet is being prepared, informing about the negotiations of Peter Lais with the Bolivian ENFE. This info will only go to the registered persons. 

Everyone interested in the TREN PANAMERICANO is kindly asked to register at the Fahrplancenter or the FLB president Peter Lais. Send a fax to +41/41/832.01.34 or email info@fahrplancenter.com or peter.lais@hispeed.ch . The tourist operators Comet Reisen AG in Zurich (peter.koch@cometreisen.ch) and INTI Tours in Deggingen (info@inti-tours.de) also accept inscriptions for the list. 
 

Low fares and the rapidly increasing demand have led to the fact that the long-distance trains in Argentina run at full capacity this summer (December to March) and in some cases, no tickets were available yet at the end of 2005 - until February! Especially the long-haul routes like Buenos Aires - Tucumán, Buenos Aires - Posadas, Viedma - San Carlos de Bariloche, but also the popular route Buenos Aires - Mar del Plata are among the overcrowded ones. In spite of long travel times and vehicles which are not always in perfect shape, trips by train are again very popular. The recovery of the economy makes it possible that many people go to see their families out in the country or even spend a couple of days at the beach. However, air fares are way out of the means of the people and, after the increase of fuel prices; bus fares are also relatively high. Therefore, people are shifting to the few long-distance trains and that is where the problems start.:Too few trains and not enough capacity in the train. Buenos Aires - Tucumán has a weekly demand of about 5’000 passengers (intermediate stops not included), but Ferrocentral offers just 1’600 tickets; TEA offers between Buenos Aires and Posadas some 3’500 tickets weekly, but with all the intermediate stops generate during summer time a demand of 7’500 tickets. Ferrobaires manages to carry 60% of the potential passengers; it only can transport all the Pullman class passengers. In 2004, the situation had similar characteristics, but not as accentuated as this year. The information about those facts went to the top charge of the country. By means of an emergency decree, the government of President Kirchner ordered the reintroduction and improvement of long-distance passenger traffic. It is indeed a big step ahead from the former declarations of intent - which almost came to nothing - until a true law! In the next edition of FCN, the full text of the law will be published. Already, the first lot of second-hand rolling stock is on its way from Portugal to Argentina. 

The national administration for land transport (ANTT) gave green light to the construction of the Ferrovía Litorânea do Sul. This new line will connect Vitória and Cachoeiro do Itapemirim in the south of the Espirito Santo state and will replace the curvy old line over Viana, Matilde and Vargem Alta. The new line leads through the coastal plains and will use in part the location of the former line Cachoeiro do Itapemirim - Marataizes. This cuts the travel time in half, and the tonnage per train can be increased considerably. Ferrovía Centro-Atlântica and EF Vitória a Minas will be in charge of the construction works.The change of location within the city of Vitória allows the transfer of the old tracks to the planned urban railway

Under the name "Tren de la Montaña", a new tourist train is being operated by a company named Técnica Natural, founded by Daniel Castelblanco. The vehicle is a small, gondola-style railcar with 24 seats. The trip starts at Facatativá, a station located on the Line Bogotá - Santa Marta, 94 km away from the capital, and leads over Cisneros, Zipacón, Sebastopol, Tablanca and La Florida to Cachipay. This 40-km run is the first stretch of the former line Facatativá - Girardot - Neiva. Departures are daily, except if no passengers present themselves. Timings are: departure from Facatativá at 09.00 am and return at 17.00 pm. The travel time is 1 h 20 minutes per direction, and the cost of the ticket ranges from Peso 8’000 to 23’000, depending on the distance and if single or round-trip fare. 
 

The old ENFE is dead, long live EFE! The government has reorganised the state railway and formed the new company Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado. No miracles have ocurred, yet there are some news and changes! 

For the first time, there are governmental funds available, and thanks to the association of local governments which have a huge interest in saving and renovating the railroad  they indeed like to carry out this work themselves - the railroad administration can not let disappear the money easily. Within a short period of time, 30’000 ties were changed. 

On its turn, this seems to show an effect on rail traffic in the country. Newspapers report that in 2005 traffic was resumed between Primer Paso and Lita which is another stretch of the interrupted northern line from Ibarra to San Lorenzo. Up to date, no exact information about schedules is available, but a newspaper says that the Autoferro is leaving on Fridays from Ibarra to Lita and that on Saturdays and Sundays it is only running from Ibarra to Primer Paso and back. 

On September 25, 2005 the 7-coach-train ran not only from Quito to Boliche (near the Cotopaxi volcane), but it continued to Latacunga, 98 km south of Quito. As this had not been communicated, only about 10 persons took advantage of this new travel opportunity; all the other 300 passengers got off between Tambillo and Boliche. Obviously, the tourist train has converted itself into a local train. EFE not only failed to draw the attention of their customers to the new connection, but it really did not tell anybody about it. Shortly before arriving at Latacunga, the train had to wait more than one hour because some parked lorries blocked the track. On entering the Latacunga station yard, the locomotive and the first two coaches derailed on the first switch. An arrival in truly Ecuadorian style! It is said that this has become a weekly service in the meantime, but so far no details are available.
 

Quite surprisingly, Ferrocarril Central Andino FCCA communicated that it will introduce a weekly train from Lima to Huancayo and back. The first departure will be on April 13, 2006 and the last one at the end of November. Departure time from Lima is each Friday at 07.00 am, the travel time to Huancayo will be 11 hours. On long weekends in the middle of April and at the end of June, the train leaves already on Thursday. The return trip starts at 18.00 pm on Sundays from Huancayo with an arrival at 05.00 am on Mondays at Lima. With this, it is possible to capture the weekend traffic of the Lima inhabitants. However, the fare has been increased considerably; the round-trip ticket costs now USD48 (Nueves Soles168). It is now possible to board the train at Chosica and alight there on the return trip. Other scheduled stops are at San Bartolomé and La Oroya; however, those two stations are not tariff points. It seems that the proposals from FLB finally have found open ears, and our efforts were not in vain. 

The Lima - San Bartolomé Sunday train has been cancelled, and the short distance Chosica - Callao train as well as the tourist train La Oroya - Cerro del Pasco will not run until further notice.