Advertisement from Traveller's Guide to the Argentine (Guia del Viajero a la Argentina) number 13, July–December 1932, page 42, inside rear cover
The Trans-Andean railways provide rail transport over the Andes. Several are either planned, built, defunct, or waiting to be restored. They are listed here in order from north to south.
Feb 2011 - The Chinese Government plans to cooperate with Colombia in building a 220 km transcontinental railway which would link Colombia's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, according to a British newspaper.[1]
Ecuador Trans-Andean Railway
Much of Ecuador's Trans-Andean Railway (a railway network that once ran from Guayaquil to Quito) has been rendered useless by natural disasters. Torrential rains from the 1982–83 and 1997-98 El Niño caused massive landslides that damaged the railway line. The network is operated by Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos. Only three sections remain operational: a 60-kilometre (37 mi) segment connecting Quito and Cotopaxi National Park, a 43.5-kilometre (27 mi) stretch between Ibarra and Primer Paso, and the mountainous five-hour, 100 km (62 mi) excursion from Riobamba to Sibambe.
Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles - ENFE, operator of the National Railways of Bolivia, and consultant Hagler Bailly, United States, have signed a contract to undertake an economic feasibility study into the proposed $US 1 billion 338 km Aiquile–Santa Cruz Railway (IRJ July p6). The line would connect the Eastern Railway network with the Andean Railway network, and effectively create a new trans-Andean railway from Pacific Ocean ports in Chile to the port of Santos in Brazil.[5]
from Lonquimay (Chile) to Zapala (Argentina) – construction abandoned.[9] 220 kilometres (140 mi) line once again proposed in 2005[10] and work underway at Chilean end in 2005; first stage completed by early 2006.[11] Possible break-of-gauge and rack railway.[12]
