Arica – La Paz railway line

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Arica-La Paz
Section of the Arica – La Paz railway line
Route network map for northern Chile and Bolivia, 1913
Route length: ~ 450 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )

, The Arica-La Paz railway connects single track since 1913, over 450 kilometers of track in meter gauge , the main Bolivian town with, since the end of Salpeterkriegs Chilean , port city.

Route

The route leads from Arica about ten kilometers along the coast, then up the Lluta valley. The steep ascent (6.5%) into the Cordillera Occidental begins near kilometer 70. On the following 42.7 km, a difference in altitude of 2247 meters was overcome by means of a cogwheel through seven tunnels . The highest point of the route at 4257 m is at General Lagos (km 184.5). The border stations are Visviri in Chile and Charaña in Bolivia. At km 112 in the village of Puquios you reach the high plateau ( Altiplano ) over which you drive at an altitude of a good 3700 m until you reach Viacha (km 415) connection to the rail network of Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia .

A 7½ km long branch line was built by General Pando (km 338) to the copper mines around Coro Coro .

history

The renovated Arica station, built in neoclassical style, 2013. (Listed as a historical monument since 1990)
Viacha branch station, 1928.
The boarded-up former train station in La Paz, 2013.
Bolivian rail bus model Wickham / Leyland 1953, in Viacha station in 1981.
General Electric U-13 C locomotive used from 1968 (locomotive used in Argentina; 2006).

The construction of the route, which should give Bolivia a port access, was provided for in the peace treaty of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia , a corresponding agreement was signed on June 27, 1905. By the end of 1903 Josías Harding had already measured one, finally 469 km long, route commissioned. The tender received four bids, ranging from £ 2.3 million to £ 2.6 million. The Sindicato de Obras Públicas de Chile won the bid, which was cheaper at £ 2.1 million. Construction began in September 1906, and the first 32 kilometers were laid until the contract was terminated in August 1907. Shay locomotives from the Lima Locomotive Works (N ° 30 and 31, they remained in service until 1928) were used for the construction. The Chilean Ministry of Railways built the next sixty kilometers under the direction of Benjamin Vivanco. In a second invitation to tender, the Deutsche Bank with Philipp Holzmann and the competitors of S. Pearson & Sons were again too expensive at just under £ 3 million. The contract as concessionaire was awarded to Mateo Clark on May 1, 1908, for £ 2,950,000, as representative of Sociedad Sir John Jackson Ltda., Which inaugurated the Arica station on May 13, 1913. The chief engineer of the construction was John Roberts Jones. The total construction cost eventually reached £ 3,334,121. A repair shop was set up in Arica, Chinchorro district.

The inauguration celebrations in Arica were documented on film. Ferrocarril Arica - La Paz (1913) by Luis Castillo González († 1964) was one of the first films ever made by a Bolivian.

Locomotives, also custom-made ones for the rack-and-pinion line, were bought from the Esslingen machine works , and wagons were obtained from Jackson & Sharp Co. in Wilmington (Delaware) . For the section Arica to Central, two Mallet locomotives were procured in 1913 , one from Hanomag and one from Baldwin Locomotive Works . When buying three locomotives of this type in 1918 for the more difficult section from Central to Puquios, the Hanomag proved to be more suitable. However, three other locomotives were bought from the Americans in 1920-23. In 1930 and again in 1950 , the Chilean EFE acquired three locomotives from the Esslingen machine works for the cogwheel line ; all six remained in use until 1968. Powerful Beyer-Garratt locomotives (wheel arrangement 1E1 ) were procured from 1940. The competition with its rail link to Lake Titicaca that arose from the opening of the Peruvian port of Matarani in 1947 required this renewal of the machinery. The first diesel locomotive was bought from General Electric in 1954 .

Initially, the management of the line was entirely in Chilean hands, as this state fully financed the construction as compensation for the Bolivian cedings of territory from the saltpetre war . The border disputes of the three neighboring states were not finally settled until 1929, since then Bolivia has managed its own section of the route. It was not until 1943 that the Chilean line was taken over by the Chilean state railway . On the Bolivian side, the line was nationalized into the ENFE in 1964 . The upgrading of Arica to a free port in 1954 (for about 20 years) led to an expansion of the port from 1966, which in particular facilitated ore exports, and a general upswing in the region.

From the mid-1960s, the switch from steam to diesel-electric locomotives took place, so that in 1968 it was possible to dispense with cogwheel operation and the previously necessary division into smaller trains with a change of clothing. At that time there were different plans regarding the expansion to the expected 5–600,000 t freight. As already examined in 1939–1951, the idea was to change the route of the steepest part. Between the train stations Central (km 69.8; 1408 m above sea level) and Puquios, the gradient should be reduced to below 3% (cost estimate US $ 14.7 million). On the other hand, enough electricity for electric locomotives has been available since the Chapiquina hydropower plant opened (US $ 8.3 million). It was decided to use diesel locomotives on the steep stretch. The cost of the conversion was under five million dollars. Locomotives of the type GE U13C were procured .

Since the late 1960s, passenger traffic has been carried out twice a week with a slightly converted German rail bus that had previously been used in the Munich area. The Chilean route was privatized in 1997, a consortium led by José Saavedra Banzer was the operator, and passenger traffic was discontinued. Floods after an earthquake in 2001 destroyed large parts of the rail line along the Río Lluta, traffic could start again next year, but was low, so that the operating company AFALP went bankrupt in 2006. The desired closure of the line could not be enforced due to the obligations under international law from the 1904/5 treaties.

The now responsible port company EPA commissioned the Spanish Grupo COMSA with the rehabilitation of the 206-kilometer stretch to the border, so that the 100th anniversary was reopened on May 13, 2013. A special stamp from the Chilean Post also appeared on the occasion. After the renovations, which cost around US $ 58 million, the route can be driven at 40 km / h. It was hoped that the freight volume would increase from around 250,000 t (2005), mainly ore and wheat, to around three and a half times. An earthquake caused damage again in May 2014.

There is currently only goods traffic with a total of six locomotives, but tour operators run special trips on the entire route. At the end of 2014, new Chilean diesel locomotives with 1850 hp were purchased. Bolivian sections will continue to be served three times a week in 2013 by rail buses for passengers. The end of the seven-hour journey from the border is Viacha. The approximately 25 km long section of the route, which descends in several bends to the stations of El Alto and La Paz, is no longer served. The Bolivian part is now administered by Ferrocarril Arica a La Paz (FCALP), which belongs to Empresa Ferroviaria Andina , which was partially privatized in 1996 .

A museum dedicated to the route in Arica train station opened in June 1987.

literature

  • Decombe, E. Alberto; Historia del ferrocarril de Arica a la Paz, Santiago; Santiago d. C., sn [1913]
  • Ferrocarril de Arica a La Paz. Sección Chilena; 75 años: revista aniversario; [Arica, Chile] [1988?]; 61 pp.
  • Leemann, Albert; Arica and its connection with the Bolivian Altiplano; Geographica Helvetica, Vol. 23 (1968), pp. 15-24 ( digitized version ).
  • Ministerio de Industria y Obras Públicas; Ferrocarril de Arica á La Paz; Santiago de Chile 1910 (Imprenta, litografia y encuadernacion Barcelona)
  • Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Servicio de Information; Ferrocarril de Arica a La Paz y el Puerto de Arica…; [Santiago] 192 ?; 23 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Planning see: Heuisler, Jorge J .; Proyecto de Ferrocarril de Oruro a Charaña, empalme con el Ferrocarril de Arica a la Paz; Santiago 1939; 5 p.
  2. ^ Estación de ferrocarriles Arica - La Paz y Andén. January 18, 1990, Retrieved May 12, 2015 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ Type 0-4-10, built by the subsidiary Costruzioni Meccaniche Saronno.
  4. ↑ Fig .: Ferrocarril de Arica a La Paz: la locomotora Esslingen, hacia 1913. Disponible en Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile [1] , zggr. May 12, 2015. One of these locomotives, the ME D 4128 (type: 1'D1 '/ b-4t), built in 1924, is in front of the Arica train station, another from 1925 is also in the museum.
  5. ↑ See: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Departamento Diplomático; Chile-Bolivia: Entrega de la sección boliviana del Ferrocarril de Arica La Paz; Santiago 1929; 18 pp.
  6. ^ Until the creation of the Zona Franca de Iquique in 1975.
  7. ↑ 18 ° 23'41 "S, 69 ° 32'13" E
  8. ↑ Planning see: Chile-California Program of Technical Cooperation; Programa de inversiones en el puerto de Arica y en el ferrocarril Arica-La Paz; [Sacramento, Calif.] 1966
  9. ↑ Michael Palin probably documented one of the last journeys in episode 7 of his travel series Full Circle (German: "Around the Pacific").
  10. ^ President visits Arica - La Paz Railway. In: railwaygazette.com. May 15, 2013, accessed May 23, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Empresa Ferroviaria Andina de Bolivia pretende operar la ruta chilena del tren Arica a La Paz ( Memento from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Ferrocarril Arica La Paz presenta nuevas locomotoras para transporte de carga ( Memento of August 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), November 10, 2014